Maybe... Regeneration does throw a little wrench in the works (since it magically repairsmost any damage), but I don't think it should work completely. Maybe slow down the effects of malnourishment, however the GM handles it, but I wouldn't let it stave it off completely.

That can't be the RAI, even if you could strongarm RAW into it (do we even have rules for blood loss?)

But hey, why couldn't you just buy donor blood/rejected donor blood?

Does Regeneration protect you from blood-borne diseases?

Even if it doesn't, Vampires get immunity to toxins and pathogens, too. (Yay to magicx2 as hardened armour against diseases)

So you can comfortably subsist on blood rejected by the hospital for being diseased (or just feed on bums in the Barrens who won't be missed.)

that'd be too easy and not give us enough reason to bicker ^^

Do watch out you're not giving AIDS to the entire barren population.

I'd try and find a shifter 'friend'.

dude, it's a vampire . . who the hell still cares about aids?
there's much worse to go around in 2075 . .

I'd assume Immunity to toxins/pathogens implies their super regenerative immune system just eradicates all foreign bodies, as opposed to the more typical "oh because you're undead". So I don't think they can be a carrier of any diseases.

Anyway I'm not sure what the issue here is, they lose essence once a month but can Essence Drain their essence up to twice it's current value. So a vampire PC could, during downtime, seduce and drain a point from 6 women he meets in bars and he'd be set for the next 6 months. Twice a year you woo or mug a half dozen people. They have a dietary requirement of blood but any blood will do, even type O vat made stuff. So really no issue there beyond some factor into the cost of their lifestyle.

It's really as much a non-issue for a Shadowrunner as the ghoul's diet. The whole typical vampire feeding/hunting nonsense is completely sidelined and all that's left is the "I'm Infected and will have issues from normal society over that". I'm not sure what the several pages of angst even is, being a vampire is no different than being a troll or an elf, it's a staple of fantasy lore put in a cyberpunk setting.



Lol, actually the vampire IS the disease that's much worse than AIDS going around in 2075 =P

Thankfully, HMHVV isn't infectious from vampires unless they will it so.
And alright, call it VITAS then

vitas is hard to transmit, seeing how those who have vitas usually die within days . .

Yeah, but they're infectious as hell while they're still breathing....

Again, this is an optional rule. Just like the option to let critters have non-delta implants, it does not automatically apply to each vampire in the universe.

PS: Just read the rule again, it says "the character is assumed to receive sufficient metahuman blood or flesh to satisfy his dietary requirement", not "to get his calories each day"

"Dietary requirement" is what they need to survive. That should include caloric intake.

It does not, that's what we are talking about. Besides the need for human blood/flesh/bones, infected also have to eat like everyone else, since eating 5% (or even just 1, depending on which rule you use) of your body weight a month does not a full stomach make.

Combined with the fact that most infected can't hold down anything else than raw meat or blood (not necessarily human, though), that requires some ingenuity. The ghouls in Chicago for example have large pig farms to provide them with enough raw meat, and upscale stores should also sell real meat. But where do you get enough blood, without arousing attention?

Assuming the blood can be non-human, one could get it from almost anywhere. There are likely lots of places that will sell off what they can to make a little money on the side, so a butcher shop (or pig farm) would collect the blood to sell to interested parties, even if they have to do it under-the-table.

Sure, problem is there are not many butchers and pig farms, since most people eat soy, customers who can afford real meat on a regular basis make up a tiny percentage of the population.


But to be productive, how about this:
According to the lifestyle rules in RC, necessities on "High" (2000 ¥/Month) means "You eat real food prepared by drones or metahuman staff and indulge in high-priced real chocolate and milk". So simply change the requirement for the "Infected lifestyle" optional rule to High necessities (instead of Middle), meaning the subject will pay 2000 ¥/Month to get real meat/blood, and another 600 ¥ to pay some crooked doctor for some real metahuman tissue.

Yep, that would work for me.

Which is why their Lifestyle Costs increase. Not sure why you are arguing this. They get their Blood, and their regular food. Easy Peasy.

Or do you make your normal characters actually roleplay out their feeding habits at the Noodle Boy Shop, too?

Yeah, I think I'm gonna stay out of this for the time being....

I posit that the life of a shadowrunner is quite ideal for a vampire who isnt well-connected or rich. You were gonna kill that security guard anyway, why not take a minute or two and feed on his essence?

That also is a possibility. Assuming your team doen't geek you for doing so.

That's like comparing buying Aspirin to acquiring a container of Ringu. Food for Infected is not something readily available, so unless the player has a good concept how his character gets his meals (money, connections...), I wouldn't let him off the hook that easily. It's a negative quality which defines the character like few other qualities do, why should the player be allowed to ignore it with a simply 300 ¥ payment?

In that case, ask him to take a contact at a blood bank or something. That way he's got the on-sheet background for how he's paying for it.

Blood shouldn't be too hard to get.. any butcher has large volumes of it. If you have the money, it shouldn't be a problem.

Now, a vampire without any money, that guy's in trouble. But any vampire who's made it through the first few years is probably wealthy now. Just as a matter of natural selection.

It is a Racial Quality, not a Negative Quality... They are different you know...
As for the availability of Blood. Just costs an extra 30% to your lifestyle. Done.
The fact that you wish to screw over the player, for something you would totally ignore for another, says volumes.

And the last page or so of this discussion is TOTALLY why I thought Infected PCs (of any type) was a Real Bad Idea.

Okay, not TOTALLY, but it sure was one of the biggies.....

I think that they are ludicrous myself, but there you go.
We don't allow them at our table.

I personally don't have any problem with Infected PC's, but I don't think it's a character option to be taken lightly. You really have to be serious about it if you want to play an Infected, and remember that your character is a monster at heart in more ways than one. Not a "sparkly playboy that sometimes kills people but really it's ok in the end" kind of person. Absolutely not. Ever.

Didn't even take a day after this. How quickly we fall.

Yeah, it worries me that my 'lost in the wilds' Professor is likely the best buddy on the team to your 'trust no one and eat those you don't trust' Jovan.

So disadvantages inherent to races should only matter in games which keep track of the PC's toilet paper supplies? Looks like I can finally build my Naga archer, which sounds better than continuing this discussion...

Nice way to twist my words.

My point is that there are already options to take care of the feeding issues sufferred by Infected. IF you are going to screw over a player for those eating habits (playing an Infected), when there are solutions already present, then you should also Screw over every other player when it comes to eating as well. If the Player forgets to mention that the character is eating, well, they should start suffering penalties for malnutrition.

Sounds pretty dumb, doesn't it? Especially since there are already rules that handle Lifestyle. As I said previously, it is not HamburgerRun, or BloodRun; it is SHADOWRUN. Pay the lifestyle cost and move along.

All there is is an optional rule to take care of the Dietary Requirement, anything else is your personal house rule.


The gamemaster should not require a player to make a test when the action is something that the character should be expected to do without difficulty. For example, if a character is driving downtown to buy soymilk and NERPS, no test is necessary.

Buying ordinary food: Trivial, no need to play Rolemaster
Buying food for Infected: Non-trivial unless you have a lot of cash, hence requires roll- or roleplaying. See RC pages 150f, 155f.

Eh. I'd say that's Middle to High lifestyle. So being a vampire costs money; so what. You could give it an Availability if your lifestyle isn't good enough to afford pig blood with synthetic human flavoring.

How much time to you have for roleplaying with friends? Is beancounting the bloodbags really what you want to spend it on?

Buying Food for Infected is TRIVIAL... Just as trivial as a troll buying food.

Read Your own quote.

The gamemaster should not require a player to make a test when the action is something that the character should be expected to do without difficulty. For example, if a character is driving downtown to buy soymilk and NERPS, no test is necessary.

Getting Food is something ANYONE should be expected to do without Difficulty. It is SO EASY for Infected, in fact, that they provide a solution right in the book for those who do not want to micromanage.

Yeah, I'm weak. Every now and again I think I should do something about that, but never do.

Sounds like you may need another point in Willpower.

If that is so, why is there an optional (optional, as in "not part of standard canon") rule for Infected, not for trolls? And why does the average troll put up with ersatz food if real meat is just as easy to obtain?

But is worrying about what butcher you buy leftover blood from really interesting enough to spend gametime on it?

I'm all for charging Infected a premium on Lifestyle, because that is exactly what Lifestyle is for: to quickly get past the boring stuff and reduce bookkeeping.

The lifestyle increas is in my opinion the splest way to deal with the issue, though keep in mind that teh lifestyle is mostly linked with there the character is living. which means there can (and probably will) be some problems when the charcter is out of his familiar turf. A troll ordering half a dozen MegaBurgerMeals won't raise many eyebrows and will find plnety of shops willing to serve him.

Getting things like fresh blood, pounds of raw meat or even weirder foods will be more of a problem, though there's always the 'munch on that guard' option. But goign that route will bring it's own set of problems. The cops might not be very motivated to catch some gonk who trashed a corporate office, but if the medias are harping 'man-eating monster running wild' headlines, they'll get far more nosy. And more likely to shoot first and burn the bodies later, no questions asked.

Sengir, TJ: stop it.

I wonder, why nobody mentioned the drug from Running Wild(?).
I suppose there is no Errata, since the german book got the same (uber) drug.

As I do not own Running Wild, I do not have any idea of what you speak.
What Drug? And, What Does it Do?

He may mean "Renfield", which is what the HMHVVI types use to create vampire pawns. The creation requires the Vampire to use his own blood, enchanted and with a dose of essance (1 point), and feed it to willing (or unwilling) victims. Once they are addicted (threshold 3, mental and physical), they are depedant on it for essence (as they gain essence loss, Carrier (HMHVVI) and Dietary Requirement (Renfield) upon addiction). The drug gives them 1d6 essence. It also grants +1 to Agility, Intuition, and Strength, Euphoria, Immunity to age, and an initiative pass.

Hmmmmm... Interesting Indeed.

Reminds me of Dresden Files, now that I think of it. Hm.

White Court, Black Court, Red Court, Jade Court... Be interesting to see if there's vampires that aren't HMHVV-Infected...

Jade Court? Must have missed that one. Which Book?

Jade Court is only mentioned, in Death Masks, IIRC.

Thing is, this is JIM BUTCHER. He doesn't casually mention anything that isn't going to be some major event later on... And they might not be too happy with someone that has the power and ability to wipe out an ENTIRE group of vampires with a single spell.

Checkov's Court?

Also, the Jade Court is mentioned in one of the Dresden Files RPG books.