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> Another Vampire Question, Are you sick of these yet?
JudgeIto78
post Dec 7 2003, 08:08 AM
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Hey all,

Some of you may remember that I am playing a Vampire PC and I asked a question which spawned an extensive thread about regeneration and so on...

Sorry... I'll try not to do that again.

Therefore, I'm going to ask a "non-rule" question, but more a matter of opinion for GM's: "If, or when, you use Vampires in your games, do they 'change' in appearence before attacking or feeding?"

Need an example? Ok...

In "Buffy" or "Angel", Vampires look like normal human (perhaps paler and with worse fashion sense) but before they feed or whatever, they "Vamp Out" or "Put on their game face" (as the Buffy RPG puts it) which means their eyes change and their forehead scruntches up in a demonic-type of visage.

Need another?

In the movie "Underworld", when Vamps get pissed or do something wicked cool, their eyes change to a very light blue and they bare their fangs or whatever.

I'm trying to think of the best way to describe my character when she freaks out and I've been basically following the Underworld model, but I wanted your opinion as to what you would do or have done.

Thanks in advance.
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moosegod
post Dec 7 2003, 08:14 AM
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Nah, I always make my vampires look kind of "sucked dry"- pinched cheeks, high foreheads.

Now, I normally don't have much description time. My group's last encounter was-

Me- "Well, he has very white skin..."
Shaman- "I make an assensing test."
Me- "SIX SUCCESSES!"
Me-"He's a vampire"
Shaman- "Guys, he's a vampire! Get him!"
Then the troll tackled him, they covered the vampire in freeze foam and they left the vampire outside until sunrise.
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Kagetenshi
post Dec 7 2003, 08:38 AM
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My vampires always look like ordinary folks.

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BitBasher
post Dec 7 2003, 08:57 AM
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QUOTE
and they left the vampire outside until sunrise.
wow, he'll be pissed about that later! Sunlight in SR doesnt kill vampires in the slightest. They have a whopping moderate allergy to sunlight, so it does one single box of damage a minute, which they regenrate in 3 seconds. They can stay in sunlight forever with the equivalent of a sunburn.

Remember, vamps in SR are pretty far removed from stereotypical vamps of other mythos, and I LIKE it! :D
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Munchkinslayer
post Dec 7 2003, 09:32 AM
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Personally, I don't allow regen to work on allergies. I mean, if it does -- what's the frickin' point of the allergy?
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Kagetenshi
post Dec 7 2003, 09:34 AM
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It hurts, and it's one box closer to having to not roll a 1.

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Munchkinslayer
post Dec 7 2003, 10:00 AM
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Maybe I've played too much WOD. I still don't think it's a good idea to regenerate allergic damage. BTW there's a B:TVS RPG? How'd a Buffy nerd like me miss that?

http://www.btvsrpg.com/main.htm

This post has been edited by Munchkinslayer: Dec 7 2003, 10:04 AM
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Dende
post Dec 7 2003, 05:06 PM
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Hey Munchkin, there is also an Angel RPG.
And the Buffy RPG is fun. I played a vamp that was an ex Sunset Club magician, who retained her soul through magic. I was nearly as badass as the slayer herself at starting...WOO HOO...

Okay, all asides...aside...
Would a game face be applicable in the SR world... They don't even describe how they drink in the book do they? I mean if you look at some vamps, like Christopher Pike's vamps, they have only a bad reaction to sunlight, and they don't actually bite people's necks, they actually use a fingernail to open the vein/artery then drink...no game face...
Whereas then there are a wide variation of vamps depicted that drink with their fangs...and some that punture with fangs and drink... I think we need to know how they drink first.

Or maybe the abstract SR gametype allows for whatever the player wishes because tehre are many vampire varients.
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Ol' Scratch
post Dec 7 2003, 05:15 PM
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Note that most vampires and nosferatu receive a sizable bonus to Charisma upon their transformation, on par with that of an elf. While the majority of Charisma reflects a personality improvement, part of it does reflect appearance... so that seems to suggest that, if anything, they actually become more attractive and alluring.
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Austere Emancipa...
post Dec 7 2003, 05:56 PM
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QUOTE (Doctor Funkenstein)
While the majority of Charisma reflects a personality improvement, part of it does reflect appearance... so that seems to suggest that, if anything, they actually become more attractive and alluring.

So for at least that bit, Shadowrun vampires are exactly like stereotypical pop culture vampires...

Just make them all look like models in latex and 18th century dresses, no need for a game face. :P
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Tanka
post Dec 7 2003, 06:05 PM
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The ultimate goth-boy's dream (Or girl if you prefer). The ugliest vampire (If you view Cha as just looks) is an average human/dwarf. Take it as what you will, but in order to feed properly, they have to have the victim in one of two states:
  • Total fear
  • Total need
So the Vampire can use the Fear skill of theirs, or, once the victim becomes addicted*, they can feed just as easily.

*In an older SB it mentioned the bite as being very intense into pleasure and may cause addiction pitting (IIRC) the victim's Willpower vs. the Vampires current Essence. If the victim fails to generate as many successes or more than the Vampire's successes, they become addicted and basically hunt their own death.
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JudgeIto78
post Dec 7 2003, 07:24 PM
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In response to Dende, the books specifically state there is a "bite" invloved with the process, so I'm imagining the Vamps actually use fangs to penetrate the skin to feed.

As for the regeneration of allergic damage, my GM and I decided that I could not heal the sun damage if I was still in contact with it. Therefore, as long as I stayed in the sun, I couldn't heal... but he did let me remain in "indirect" sunlight (shadows, shade, etc) without much damage, just discomfort.

Final P.S. - the Angel RPG isn't out yet, but will be soon.
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The Synthcat
post Dec 8 2003, 04:23 AM
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Actually, the books seem to suggest -and I've always ruled it that way- that vampires need only an emotional link with their target (ie, the target must fear or need the vampire) to activate their essence drain power. The bite is merely a way to guaantee that the "emotional link" will be created.

In addition, only a token amount of blood is to be transferred for the essence drain to take effect. A vampire drinking any more blood, by my book, will simply be sick, as if he'd drank any other beverage.
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Tanka
post Dec 8 2003, 04:28 AM
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QUOTE (Critters @ p. 46)
...They prey on sentient beings, absorbing the life essence of their victims along with the victim's blood.<snip>Vampires will become sick to their stomachs within an hour of consuming anything but blood...


Canon reference. They do, in fact, drink the blood. Where else do they get their nutrients?
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Dende
post Dec 8 2003, 04:29 AM
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Is there a good page number anyone can find mentioning the blood drinking of those infected with the virus in general? Many of them need flesh or blood, but do they like it? How much do they need, etc?
Also as far as change goes, most, if not all vamps get huge bonuses to much stuff, quickness, str, and char...Why the char? I really don't see how by basically dying and becoming stronger but also becoming an outcast would make you a better person...
I need to wait till I see my GMs book again, but I would like to check up on specifcs there.
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Tanka
post Dec 8 2003, 04:31 AM
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They only take what they need/want. If that means they only need 1 Essence to hit 12, then they take 1 Essence. If the person doesn't have 1 Essence to give... Well, they're either dead or a new HMHVV-infected person.

I'm not sure about the Cha bonus, but they are magical in nature. It could be attributed to many myths about vampires being supremely beautiful creatures.
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Fortune
post Dec 8 2003, 04:56 AM
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QUOTE (Dende)
I really don't see how by basically dying and becoming stronger but also becoming an outcast would make you a better person...

That's one of the problems with people's perception of Vamps in Shadowrun. They are not undead in any way, shape, or form. They are metahumans infected with a virus, but are still as alive as you and I.
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Munchkinslayer
post Dec 8 2003, 04:57 AM
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A lot of old vamp myths say that vamps bite their victims over the heart. The idea being that the heart is the seat of the soul (from as far back as the ancient egyptians, and maybe longer) and therefor has more "spiritual power". The vamps of myth did not feed on blood alone, they fed on peoples' souls. In SR the soul would be Essence of course. So if you wanna go "traditional" you could rule that vamps must bite victims over the heart to get the full effect of the essence drain.

Personally, I figure blood is blood. If it comes from a living sentiant being it carries essence. So the Buffy/Angel thing about drinking pigs' blood or robbing the bloodwagon outside the hostpital for a little vampiric meals-on-wheels is a no-go.

And, yeah, I saw the Angel game when I searched for Buffy. Looks pretty sweet.
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snowRaven
post Dec 10 2003, 12:52 AM
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However, drinking the blood/essence of a living pig should be a-okay, canon-wise...
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Siege
post Dec 10 2003, 02:00 AM
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QUOTE (moosegod)
Nah, I always make my vampires look kind of "sucked dry"- pinched cheeks, high foreheads.

Now, I normally don't have much description time. My group's last encounter was-

Me- "Well, he has very white skin..."
Shaman- "I make an assensing test."
Me- "SIX SUCCESSES!"
Me-"He's a vampire"
Shaman- "Guys, he's a vampire! Get him!"
Then the troll tackled him, they covered the vampire in freeze foam and they left the vampire outside until sunrise.

Ya know, there is a reason why you don't leave enemies intact.

"It's a trick; get an axe."

Which reminds me of a bad joke one of my crew made:
Question: "What happens when you interrogate a mage with stimpatches?"
Answer: "One pissed-off samurai."

-Siege
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Tanka
post Dec 10 2003, 03:21 AM
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QUOTE (Siege)
...Which reminds me of a bad joke one of my crew made:
Question: "What happens when you interrogate a mage with stimpatches?"
Answer: "One pissed-off samurai."...

Ha! Fragging ha!
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JudgeIto78
post Dec 10 2003, 04:30 AM
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In making my character, my GM and I decided that my vamp character basically needed two things for sustinance:
1) Blood (bi-daily or so)
2) Essence (In order to offset the essence loss)

Now, when my character needs to drink blood, she can get it from anywhere. Warm, live human is best, of course, but I can get by on pig's blood for the sustenence, but it wouldn't taste great (much like Angel says)

When I need to get essence, THAT's when I need a live body of some sort to get the essence, an animals will do, but are once again, not preferred.

Every time a vamp feeds, they don't necessarily need essence, so the pig's blood in the meantime, should be satisfactory.

Plus, it's gonna be cool to microwave and gulp down a big ol' coffee cup of B positive in front of the rest of my crew....

... once they figure out what I am. :D
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Tanka
post Dec 10 2003, 04:33 AM
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Silly breaking canon rules... Ah, well, fine enough.

Oh, watch out for when you go out to meet your J. If there's any food/drink other than blood, you get kind of sick. Alcohol is a big no-no, very sick.

Other than that, have fun. Let us know how long it takes them to figure out what you are. And their IC reactions. That should be funny.
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Dende
post Dec 10 2003, 04:56 AM
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Actually the speculation has begun. Within the span of 15 min(IG) My char saw him take a huge sot, and regen it 3 seconds later...My char also may have seen an impossible posion gas resistance by her too...Not to mention punching through Hardned Military Armor barehanded when my High Lev Weapon Focii went straight off his armor...
One player character does know, a mage, and her buddy, an NPC knows too. When she talked to him about it, it was away from us in general, so I don't know what she knows exactly. The others of us know OC, but not IC yet...and of the 2 others, I my char is the only that has questions.
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JudgeIto78
post Dec 10 2003, 05:04 AM
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QUOTE (tanka)
Silly breaking canon rules... Ah, well, fine enough.

Oh, watch out for when you go out to meet your J. If there's any food/drink other than blood, you get kind of sick. Alcohol is a big no-no, very sick.

Other than that, have fun. Let us know how long it takes them to figure out what you are. And their IC reactions. That should be funny.

I don't know about breaking canon rules, but it just seemed to make more sense to us.

As for the food and drink, I already know. We role-played my "turning" and for the the first few days, my character couldn't understand why she couldn't eat anything without getting sick. So far, she has managed to dodge the whole "why don't you eat something? You look so pale..." type situation, but she is also the group's "face", so future social interactions should get very interesting...

So far, it's been a blast playing an non-munchkin Vampire PC trying to hide it from everyone and, of course, I'll let you know how things turn out with the group reaction, if you're really interested.

We have another game on Thursday night and I'm going to probably be forced to turn to mist in front of them.

Needless to say, the cat is about to be out of the bag... :eek:
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