50 Shades of Vampires, Part I

Originally published January 23, 2013

I enjoy tinkering with my antagonists. In D&D this might involve creating new monsters. In World of Darkness, this means vampires, designing new variant forms of these bloodsuckers. Almost every World of Darkness game I've run has broken the rules for vampires in some way.

Just one vision of vampires

Why vampires? For much the same reason that aliens are often human-like in science fiction. Vampires are relatable. They are human-like but still clearly different. Unlike zombies or tentacled horrors you can talk to them, have meaningful relationships with them, and even feel bad killing them. This gives them a lot of mileage.

Moreover vampires often exist in far-ranging conspiracies. Werewolves point to a smaller more pack based society, not the kind of evil conspiracies vampires often find themselves in. Mages tend to die of old age which changes how these conspiracies last over the ages. But Vampires are immortal. Vampires have minions and spawn, entranced mortals and blood fed wolves and rats. Vampires bring more options as antagonists than most other monsters.

Since they make such useful enemies, I find the need to differentiate each incarnation from the instances I've used before. Perhaps these vampires possess unique powers or have boons from odd alliances. Perhaps they have a different society or physical appearance than one might expect. These changes help surprise my players and keep them from being complacent about the monsters they face.

In this series I intend to discuss the various ways you can surprise your players with vampires. These techniques can be used for other games and other monsters. The important idea to is to free yourself from a single vision of what vampires are like. For this first part I will start off with one of my more ambitious departures from the classic World of Darkness vampire, the living vampires of the Circle.

The Circle

One of my more inventive alternative vampires were the members of the Circle. The concept evolved from the concept of a group of religious fanatic worshiping the stolen form of a millenia old vampire to something quite different. Drawing on material from the Vampire: the Requiem supplement, Ghouls, I took the ghoul family, the Children of Nirriti, and added additional material to make them a cult of ghouls and living vampires. By living vampires, I mean that they possess normal human bodies, augmented by Vitae. In this way they resemble ghouls but with greater capabilities. They are immune to sunlight and suffer no vulnerability to fire. These vampires then can operate at any time of day and possess positions of power and influence not normally accessible to vampires. Their unusual abilities caused a lot of confusion for my more traditional minded players. The added mystery and paranoia was a great addition to the game.

Vampire: the Requiem supplement Ghouls

The rational for these beings inside the game world was that they possess the "soul" of a vampire instead of that of a normal human soul. This, added to their hereditary ghoul nature, allows them to access vampiric powers without many of the downsides. They also lack some of the vampiric strengths: bullets hurt them like normal humans, they need to breathe and eat, and threats such as cold and electricity are still quite harmful. Additionally they lack features like fangs which made feeding difficult without special rituals.

As for how exactly how they gain a vampiric "soul"? That is discussed below but the full story will have to wait for a later article.

History

The full history of the Circle began over a hundred years before the Chronicle began. This cult began when a grotesque creature referred to as the Antediluvian was discovered buried beneath the city of Chicago in 1890. The Antediluvian resembles a hardened block of blood containing a humanoid figure. Mostly dormant its body is inhabited by an inhuman spirit that can remove and replace souls.

Its discoverer was betrayed by his servitor ghouls who realized the power it had. When prompted by blood and rituals it can be induced to transfer the vampiric essence to another vessel, like a living human. The discoverer was the first victim of this power. His vampiric "soul" was transferred to one of his ghouls who became the first of the Circle.

After the transformation, the ghouls quickly moved the creature and formed a cult (and later a ghoul family) to serve them. Protected by money and the ability to walk in the day, they were able to stave off the other vampiric covenants when they sought to destroy them. They have prospered while the rest of the city has failed, living in opulence on the north end of the city.

Abilities

As humans infused by vampiric essence they have some of the powers but few of the weaknesses of normal vampires:

• They lack fangs, though they know certain rites that allow them to consume blood as Vitae.
• They have blood potency and are subject to frenzy from anger, hunger and fear. However hunger frenzy only occurs if they have 0 or 1 Vitae in their system. Also fear frenzy does not occur for fire and sunlight except in the most recently transformed.
• They cannot create ghouls or addict others to their blood without special rituals.
• They do not age as long as they have vitae in their system and consume 1 Vitae per month. They do not need to spend 1 Vitae per day to awaken.
• They can hold up to their Stamina + Blood Potency in Vitae, though some rituals and devotions allow them to increase this.
• They can boost their pools with blood as normal as well as to reflexively heal damage.
• They can bear children who are extremely likely to be natural ghouls.
• Their vulnerabilities and strengths are otherwise the same as normal mortals.
• Their favored Disciplines are Crúac, Celerity, Resilience, and Vigor. They also have some knowledge of Auspex, Dominate, Majesty, and Obfuscate. They currently lack access to other Disciplines.
• As long-lived mortals they pay half of the normal experience cost for Allies, Contacts, Resources, and Retainers.

I decided to added Crúac as a favored Discipline to counter the groups lack of traditional vampire strengths as well as their otherwise limited Discipline selection.

New Powers

These rituals are of little use to other vampires but allow the Circle to accomplish some basic vampiric abilities:

Fangs of the Beast (Level 1 Crúac Ritual)

By drawing on the Beast, the Circle members can give themselves noticeable fangs. These fangs last until dawn unless dismissed earlier. They function in every way like normal vampiric fangs for feeding except they cannot be hidden without ending the ritual.

The Taste of Vitae (Level 2 Crúac Ritual)

The blood of the Circle member becomes inhumanly addictive like that of vampiric Vitae. It functions in the same way as Vitae for the purposes of addicting people and animals to their blood. By adding a point of Willpower to this ritual, they can ghoul animals and humans. This ritual also allows them to transfer Vitae (through bleeding) to others. This ritual lasts a scene.

This ritual has no effect if used by Ghouls.

Vessel of Blood (Level 2 Crúac Ritual)

The Circle member can temporarily increase their ability to hold Vitae. For the duration of a day they can hold Vitae up to the normal limits of Blood Potency.

Elder Vitae (Devotion: Crúac 2 + Resilience 2, 12 experience)

The Circle member increases their ability to hold Vitae. They spend 1 Vitae and making an Stamina + Occult + Crúac roll. Each success allows them to sequester a point of Vitae within their body (up to the normal limits of vampiric Blood Potency).

50 Shades of Vampires, PT. II

50 Shades of Vampires, Part III

Originally published April 3, 2013

In my previous two installments, I mentioned a vampire elder called the Antediluvian. In this today's post I'll reveal what it is and how I designed it.

The Antediluvian evolved substantially during my chronicle. Originally I introduced it as a subject of worship by the feral vampires beneath my city. The more intelligent of these called themselves the Black Hand, a name I stole from the Classic World of Darkness. Back then it was just a powerful vampire elder slumbering beneath the city, one that had discovered some secret about that location.

As I began to solidify my vision of the Circle, the living vampires that surprised my players so much, I knew I needed something stranger and more powerful. It was around this time that I acquired Night Horrors : Wolfsbane which details the Idigam, strange primordial spirits which were imprisoned on the moon by Father Wolf of the Werewolf: the Forsaken mythology. Notably these spirits could remove souls and replace them with spirits or ghosts. The idea of an Idigam claimed vampire was appealing.

At this stage we had the core of the being, an unnatural fusion of vampire and spirit, but we didn't know its history. I knew from my earlier version that it had awakened sometime in the 16th or 17th centuries to learn of the Native Americans destruction. So around this time I decided it was tied up with the Mississippian civilization and other mound builders. Playing fast and loose with history, I decided it fed on entire civilizations, slumbering in torpor while new meals arose.

Possible childe of the Antediluvian

Initially I thought to make it a servant of my big bad (an imprisoned god of demons) but later I decided it worked better as a guardian to stop people from disturbing and releasing the god. Basically the equivalent of an electric fence. If you get too close, it kills you. And your civilization.

This also added to the difficulties of killing it. Destroying it just brings the apocalypse that much closer.

And here is its write-up. The Devotions can be found in Ancient Mysteries and Blood Tenebrous can be found in World of Darkness: Book of Spirits.

The Antediluvian

Background: The truth of the Antediluvian may never be known. The fog of eternity has hidden the past from its mind. For millenia it has dwelt in North America, since the time of the Clovis people. Perhaps it is one of the original vampires, a monster born of a union of spirit and flesh that should not have been. Or perhaps it is the result of god-king whose soul was sundered when the gates to heaven were broken. Or perhaps it has always been, a being created by an unknowable god to watch over the human flock. To its mind all of these are true. As near as anyone else can tell, the being known as the Antediluvian has dwelt by the shores of the Great Lakes for over ten thousand years. Its spawn traveled South to incite blood sacrifices of the Aztecs, aping the forgotten mound builders that worshiped the memory of their sire.

Long has it slept, letting centuries pass between feedings. But each feeding would destroy the society, both mortal and damned, that existed around it. These are recorded in the mysterious collapses of the Olmec, the Maya, and Pueblo civilizations. Its most recent awakening left it hungrier than normal as it found its people missing, killed by European disease.

It was upset.

It attacked and murdered a Jesuit mission in revenge. There it also found a nomad vampire, an outcast from the Bohemian mystic societies. After torturing the Kindred, it devoured his mind and then later his soul. From his thoughts, it learned of the world, what had happened to its people, and who its enemies were.

It slept, digesting the creature's past and readying itself for the task ahead of it. To make man fear the night again. This creature had long known the secrets of the Underworld and maintained a dual existence. A dark spirit, cast from the heavens, sat in its torpored form, protecting it and serving as a symbol of vassalhood to a dark entombed god. Meanwhile its "soul" would wander the Underworld learning its secrets and living off of the memories of blood. It built a church to itself and began to gather the ghosts of humanity's mystics there.

They would be its army, while above the nameless spirit made sure the growing city was filled with the undead. It whispered to the ignorant European vampires to dig and dig deep. It taught them to sup on the blood of the earth, to make them strong and mad. Some it formed into a cult and encouraged them to exhume its form.

When the Black Hand had served its purpose it whispered to their mortal servants to steal it away. It tore souls from the mortals replacing them with pale shades and a promise of immortality.

The time is now. Now it moves upward to rejoin its slumbering form. It will escape the Underworld, bring forth an army of blood addict ghost-mages, and seize control of Circle. Then it will use its powers to tear apart the spirit world, the Consilium, the Seers, the Forsaken, and bring fear back to the mortals.

Description: The Antediluvian's "soul" appears as a mummified humanoid with blackened skin wrapped tightly around brittle seeming bones. Its eyes are the only thing that seem alive, blood-red and surprisingly compelling.

Its body until recently has been encased in a mass of calcified blood, storage for the long centuries of slumber. Once free and nourished, its form is rather unusual with a strange oblong skull covered in thick braids of black hair. Its hands have long digits and its feet are almost opposable It is female and oddly attractive despite its inhuman features and jagged teeth.

Roleplaying Hints: A force of nature and seemingly all-knowing, the Antediluvian should use its best attacks, know the weaknesses of its opponents, and crush obstacles. But it should also spare random individuals and get distracted by the mundane. It needs to belong, something it doesn't realize but is echoed in every action. It builds cults, gangs, and fearful societies to surround it. But it doesn't sit at the pinnacle but as first among monsters. It wants temporal power, the power of fear. It fears humanity, empathy and feeling are alien to it and scary.

Ghost Traits

Attributes: Power 6, Finesse 5, Resistance 6

Mental Skills: Academics 2, Crafts 2, Investigation 3, Medicine 2, Occult (ghosts, underworld, vampires) 4, Politics 3

Physical Skills: Athletics 6, Brawl (fangs) 7, Larceny 2, Stealth 6, Survival 6, Weaponry 3

Social Skills: Animal Ken (bats, wolves) 6, Expression 2, Intimidation (stare down) 6, Persuasion 4, Subterfuge 2

Merits: Allies (Ghost Mages ) 3, Allies (feral vampires) 3, Vice over Virtue

Willpower: 11; Humanity: 0; Virtue: Friendly; Vice: Envy; Initiative: 11; Defense: 3 (Armor 3); Speed: 21; Corpus: 11

Blood Potency: 10 (100/15)

Disciplines: see below

Vampire Traits

Clan: None

Covenant: None (though is venerated by the Circle and Black Hand)

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 5, Wits 5, Resolve 5

Physical Attributes: Strength 6, Dexterity 5, Stamina 7

Social Attributes: Presence 6, Manipulation 6, Composure 6

Mental Skills: Academics 2, Crafts 2, Investigation 3, Medicine 2, Occult (ghosts, underworld, vampires) 4, Politics 3

Physical Skills: Athletics 6, Brawl (fangs) 7, Larceny 2, Stealth 6, Survival 6, Weaponry 3

Social Skills: Animal Ken (bats, wolves) 6, Expression 2, Intimidation (stare down) 6, Persuasion 4, Subterfuge 2

Merits: Allies (Circle) 4, Allies (Black Hand) 4, Allies (Ghost Mages ) 3, Allies (feral vampires) 3, Iron Stamina 3, Taste of the Strange (mages, shapeshifters, demons). Vice over Virtue

Willpower: 11; Humanity: 0; Virtue: Friendly; Vice: Envy; Initiative: 11; Defense: 5; Speed: 16; Health: 11

Blood Potency: 10 (100/15)

Disciplines: Auspex 5, Blood Tenebrous 5, Celerity 4, Majesty 4, Nightmare 5, Obfuscate 3, Protean 5, Vigor 5, Resilience 5

Devotions: Blood Shield, Destructive Might, Gargoyles Watch, Glimpse of the Abyss

Idigam

The mages who bound this spirit walked many strange roads and not all of them stayed to this world. On the lunar surface they encountered and brought back a spirit of alien resonance. Destroying it was seen as too dangerous at the time. It seemed the being was bound up with the creation of life itself. So they trapped it in the form of an ancient eternally dead creature, the Antediluvian. Over the eons the two grew into each other until they were one. Now it wants to belong to a group and forms societies to worship and adore it. It awaits the return of its other half.

Attributes: Power 9, Finesse 12, Resistance 9

Merits: Allies (Circle) 4, Allies (Black Hand) 4

Willpower: 18; Size: 5; Initiative: 21; Defense: 6 (Armor 6); Speed: 31; Corpus: 14

Rank: 4

Essence: 50

Influences: Blood 3, Faith 2, Vampires 3

Numina: Claim, Greater Influence (x3), Ghost Eater, Rapture, Soul Harvest, Telepathy

Ban: Exposure to glacial ice paralyzes it until it melts.

Hope you enjoyed that. Next time we'll look another variant vampire the fungus infected Malphaens.

50 Shades of Vampires, Part V

Originally published August 28, 2013

For this installment of alternate vampires, I was inspired by reading the Ventrue clanbook, Lords of the Damned: Ventrue, where they treat the Malkavian Bloodline more as a disease than as a Bloodline. Any vampire (or temporarily even a human) can catch the disease, this contagious madness. It made me think what other Bloodlines or conditions could be turned into diseases afflicting the vampire population.

Morbus

The clearest choice is the Morbus Bloodline from the main Vampire: the Requiem book. Morbus vampires are restricted to feeding on inflected blood, they are plague carriers. If we made their condition spreadable via their blood then they become a serious threat not only to the mortal population but vampires as well. Their ghouls and surviving victims might become Typhoid Mary's of the city, causing those vampires that feed on them to become Morbus.

Soon those vampires not infected might have to choose between starvation and feeding off diseased mortals, potentially becoming infected with Morbus themselves. Then they would become plague carriers and pariahs. Those fleeing infect cities might have to deal with neighbors unwilling to take chances that new comers are already infected. There is a lot of room for dramatic tension.

For non-vampires, they could see disease slowly overcoming their home. Soon doctors, bus drivers, police, and all the key people who keep a city going begin to call in sick. City infrastructure could begin breaking or shutting down as the people who are supposed to maintain it are waylaid by disease.

The plague could bring greater government scrutiny as CDC teams descend on the area. The veil that keeps supernatural creatures hidden could be broken. The situation could escalate into a race against time to eliminate the source of the plague before everyone is exposed or dies for those with mortal biologies (or mortal allies).

The other supernatural creatures would be vulnerable in their own ways. Mage, without Life magic, are as vulnerable to disease as any mortal. As allies and enemies succumb to disease new problems and opportunities arise. Hunters of course will suffer with the city which gives them a strong motivation to take down these plague carriers. Prometheans might find themselves labeled as such if they stray into an infected region. They most likely won't get sick but that just makes them more of a target.

Werewolves would likely be immune but have their kinfolk to look out for. They would also have to deal with growing horde of disease and potentially death spirits. As body counts rise, Sineaters might have their hands full with ghosts, even as they must survive the plague themselves. Changelings have no special resistance to disease but might benefit from people willing to trade anything for immunity to the disease, something that is possible via a Pledge.

Mechanics

The spread of the disease (both the mundane disease and the supernatural one conferring the Morbus bloodline) occurs through blood contact either by ingestion of infected blood or by being bitten and fed on by an infected vampire or mortal.

The exposed party must make an extended Resolve + Stamina roll against the infected party's Blood Potency (for infection from a mortal carrier, treat his or her effective Blood Potency as 2 less than the vampire who infected them). Bonuses against disease apply. Each roll represents a 24-hour period since exposure.

For mortals (or non-vampires), any failure on the roll leaves them infected with a mundane disease and able to infect vampires with Morbus for a number of hours equal to the Blood Potency of the vampire that exposed them.

For vampires, any failure on the roll infects them with Morbus. If the source was an infected mortal, this will last for a number of months equal to the original difficulty. If it was from Vitae (like an infected ghoul), then it is permanent.

Those infected can gain no Vitae from healthy mortals and can learn to use the Discipline Cachexy to find and infect more people.

50 Shades of Vampires: the Index

Originally published December 4, 2013

Creating new variants on classic monsters is one of my secret joys. When the players realize this vampire or that bunch of spider hosts are different, that is when I know I have them worried. The unknown is frightening and adds new tension to game with jaded players.

Here are my alternate vampire articles to date:

• The Circle: a covenant, a ghoul family and an entirely new breed of vampire all rolled up in one. Watch out! These blood suckers don't fear the sun.
• Allies: sometimes all that is needed to spruce up a foe is an unexpected friend.
• Antediluvian: an ancient vampire that combined the worst aspects of vampires and spirits.
• Malpheans: some vampires get infested as mold and fungi infiltrate their systems. The results are not pretty. Just don't burn them.
• Morbus Contagion: when a bloodline ceases to be just a curse and becomes a plague.
• Wyrm Sickness: even old vampires can change..or at least mutate.
• Sandmen: when Mnemovores, or memory eating vampires, devour a piece of reality what do they become?
• Supernal Blood Addiction: what happens when Vampires come to enjoy the taste of Mages a bit too much?

Just one vision of vampires

50 Shades of Vampire: The Liver Eater

Two weeks ago I presented the unused conspiracy for my recent Night's Black Agents game. The Soulless would have been a ancient group of sorcerers seeking mastery over death and the soul. But not all of them like being slaves to millenia old Egyptian horror. And one has figured out how to escape.

The Liver Eater

Rebellious undead sorcerer

Red of eye and pale of skin, this emaciated creature lost all of its hair a century ago. Its skin is a thin veneer, a shell hiding its mummified remains. Within, blackened leather carved with crude hieroglyphics protects desiccated organs and dry bones. Blood powers its workings, blood and the souls it eats. Though sometimes it simply breathes the souls in.

The Liver Eater surrounds itself with images of Amset [Archaeology], the human headed son of Horus, who guarded the liver of the deceased. It also collects scorpions which can be seen as servants of Skhet, mother to Amset.

Background: The Liver Eater remembers being human, a man of privilege in the late 19th century. It recalls his journey to Egypt, the expedition, the lust for occult lore. The man had a wife and several mistresses. He had an infant son and an invalid mother. He had friends and colleagues, a rich tapestry of life and social obligations.

In an unnamed tomb, that man was hollowed out and his soul devoured.

What filled that void wasn’t human.

It still retains those memories but that’s all they are. Dry facts. As emotion filled as a nearly forgotten book.

In its place, its one time master placed a sliver of its will, a hunger for knowledge that drove the Liver Eater forward. It stalked the halls of power, enslaved smugglers and lords alike, pillaged libraries and plundered tombs.

But now ambition has taken root in the Liver Eater’s heart, a product of its alchemical experiments. It seems eating the seat of passion, the liver, has freed it from the Theban’s influence. Filled with wants and desires of its own for the first time in over a century, it wants to keep that freedom and strike out on its own. For that it needs more occult lore, more secrets to the magic that powers its very existence. Only with that knowledge can it hope to escape its master and its former allies.

Possible Clues: The missing livers might be uncovered via appropriate use of Cop Talk, Criminology, or simple Research. Samples of the liver or one of its laboratories can reveal its precise treatment via a Chemistry, Diagnosis or Occult Studies spend (perhaps hinting at a way to reverse or negate the effect). Criminology or High Society might pick out a pattern in its movements, based as they are on the memories of a 19th century English nobleman.

General Abilities: Aberrance 20, Hand to Hand 11, Health 11, Weapons 11

Hit Threshold: 5 (higher if invisible)
Alertness Modifier: +3
Stealth Modifier: +3

Damage Modifier: -1 (fist), +0 (fangs)
Armor: -1 (tough skin), all weapons do half damage after armor, firearms do only 1 point and shotguns only do 2.

Powers: See Souls, Smell Breath, Drain Stability, Infection, Psychic Invisibility (not in combat), Invisible to Mirrors and Electronics, Mimicry (voice and form), Vampiric Speed, Spider Climb, Summon Insects

Banes: Sunlight (Hurt), Fire, Beheading, Stake to the Heart
Compulsions: None but see requirements.
Dread: sunlight
Requirements: Blood and souls. To retain an independent will , the Liver Eater must devour an alchemically treated liver each day. While it can supplement some of this via its control over the illegal organ trade, it is quickly racking up a body count.

50 Shades of Vampire: Blood Tenebrous

If vampires in Vampire: the Requiem have a major weakness (other than sunlight) it's that they have no way to interact with the Realms Invisible: Shadow, the Astral, the Hedge, and so on. This somewhat hinders crossover play and leaves them weak against ephemeral threats.

The Book of Spirits, the shadow specific blue book, tried to rectify this by introducing a new discipline for those vampires interested in spirit world and its inhabitants. This book was composed for the first edition of the game. It would interesting and helpful to update those rules to second edition and its new spirit and ghost rules.

Research Notes

Partly I did this to have a good excuse for brushing up on the rules for ephemeral beings, something that wasn't important to me in my prior 2nd edition games.

After looking over them, I see that there isn't much here that is immediately relevant to Blood Tenebrous. Only the claiming power directly interfaces with those rules and it already breaks enough rules from the earlier edition.

Blood Tenebrous Devotions

Following the pattern with bloodlines, I'll avoid adding a new discipline and instead translate the powers into a series of devotions.

Pulse of the Invisible (Requirements: Auspex 2) The vampire gains an ability similar to that of Unseen Sense (spirits). By spending 1 Vitae, they gain the ability to see loci, verges, and twilight spirits for a scene. When dealing with a power that would otherwise occlude this vision, they can contest it with a Wits + Empathy roll. (Cost: 2 XP)

Blood is Life (Requirements: Protean 2) By spending 1 vitae, the vampire can infuse their vitae with spiritual power. Roll Strength + Occult and infuse Vitae equal to the number of successes with an equal amount of Essence. This effect lasts a minute at which point it resumes being normal Vitae. (Cost: 1 XP)

Under the Skin of the World (Requirements: Obfuscate 3, optionally Vigor 1) The vampire masters the spiritual ties within them and gains the ability to step through into Shadow at a Locus. Expend 1 Vitae and making an Intelligence + Occult roll (possibly at a penalty depending on the circumstances of the locus) to take the character and anything they carry into Shadow. If they buy this Devotion with the Vigor requirement they can bring other people as well at the cost of another point of Vitae per person. (Cost: 1 XP or optionally 2 XP)

Drawing in the Devil (Requirements: Protean 5) Spirits generally can't claimed supernatural beings. This devotion eliminates that restriction. After reworking their surroundings and behavior to become Resonant (as the Condition) with the type of spirit they seek to merge with, a vampire can spend 1 Vitae to then engage in an extended Presence + Persuasion roll to successfully become Claimed by a spirit without going through all of the other conditions normally associated with that process. They must accrue 5 Successes per Rank of the spirit with each roll representing 1 minute of meditation. (Cost: 3 XP)

50 Shades of Vampires, Part II

Originally published March 20, 2013

Time for more tinkering with vampires. As before, we'll look at how one can challenge your player's expectations about vampires in the World of Darkness. This time we'll look at vampires with unexpected allies.

Just one vision of vampires

When creating a single antagonist to challenge your players you typically want to features: an element of surprise and resiliency. The standard World of Darkness vampire has some serious weakness that can disrupt the horror effect you are after. The typical attack at noon with a flame thrower might work for a humorous intro like in John Carpenter's Vampires but usually isn't what you are looking for in a horror game.

The easiest way to deal with this is by adding some allies who can cover for those weaknesses. Even if this is the only vampire in town, it doesn't mean he or she lacks friends. The normal ally is a blood addled ghoul like Renfield but you can shake things up by using unconventional allies. Examples I've used in the past include Mages, Spirits, and Ghosts.

Mages might support a vampire because it controls the local politicians (allowing it to control zoning laws and realign mystic energies in exchange for favors) or because it knows where mystic secrets were hidden two centuries ago. In the return the Mages might set up magic traps, offer the occasional divination, or even give the vampire a protective magic item. In one of my games, the local vampire Prince allied with a group of Mages called the Seers of the Throne to maintain the status quo. They gave her a protective item against sunlight. That substantially change how the final encounter went.

As for spirits, a vampire might give it offerings or other assistance to let it grow in power. The spirit might then protect the vampire when it is weakest in order to keep the essence flowing. It might posses one of the vampires servants, making him even more powerful, or serve more directly. The previously mentioned Prince had a deal with a spirit of Fire and Rebirth, a phoenix, where she provided servants to worship it in return for occasional favors, such as incinerating her enemies.

One could easily imagine similar relations with local Hunters (the enemy of my enemy is my friend), Werewolves (perhaps watching over sacred sites while they are away), Geists (they might know much of ancient ghosts from when they were alive), or Changelings (who else but a vampire could match the Fae in deal making).

Specifically for Changeling: the Lost I had an elder vampire which called himself Oberon. He had made a pact with a True Fae to create a unique Bloodline that held powers over dreams. But because he had broken aspects of the pledge, he was cursed to appear hideously old. He lied to those he embraced that the curse the True Fae imposed was actually the curse of vampirism, hoping that they would find a way free of the curse allowing him to regain his handsome features. He used those same lies with the changeling characters in that game, who thought they were saving him. Obviously they were quite surprised when the truth came out.

I'll discuss this next vampire example in more detail next time but the Antediluvian, an ancient vampire I used in Mage: the Awakening game, possessed powerful allies in the form of Ghost-Mages. These ghosts allowed the ancient monster to be protected against magic and to use it against her enemies. Through her blood she made herself their anchor, a power that was turned against her in the game. Another powerful ally of the Antediluvian was an Idigam, a primordial spirit that could become anything. It gave her the power to create living vampires and later place ghost-mages into the bodies of ghouls and vampires. These Ghost Claimed Vampires had access to magical Arcana and were a quite challenge to deal with.

Possible Allies

So I hope this sparks your imagination in creating new and surprising challenges for your players. Sometimes it is not the weird power the monster has but who its friends are.

2015 Year in Review

2015 is almost over and its time to look back over this year and forward to the next. It has been a fun year writing for the site and I think the current schedule works for me. With my Actual Plays behind me (at least the ones with transcriptions), I'm hoping to put more work into some more elaborate projects.

Blog Year in Review

Here are some of the highlights (at least I see them) from my writing this past year:

• Rosebriar: I enjoyed detailing my fictional Changeling: the Lost setting and I'm hoping this year to compile the articles into a single pdf.
• Sample Sanctums: this series on modern-day wizard hideouts was well received and I think I will do something similar in the future.
• GenCon 2015: the convention was a blast but also likely my last for some time. This year I'll be at DunDraCon and perhaps another Bay Area convention.
• Reviews: I did many game reviews this year and I hope to add more this year. Next up will be some classic games (Amber Diceless) and some new (Fate) with a few others I hope to try this year.
• 50 Shades of Vampire: I noticed that updating old bloodlines got more attention than average so I'm sure I'll revisit this. The well isn't dry yet but I am going to let it sit for a bit.
• The Climbers: While I didn't reach my goal of 20 sessions, I think the campaign was a success and I learned a lot about where I need to improve. I need a little breather before I run another Apocalypse World powered game but I think that system is going to be one of my gotos.
• Double Feature Horror Reviews: I didn't see much buzz from this and each article took a bit of time. On the other hand I enjoyed expanding my horror movie watching. I'll probably do this again but on a smaller scale and with more of a common theme. Maybe mummy movies.

Games for Next Year

So what is up for next year? This year I managed to try most of the games I wanted with the exceptions of Kingdom and Hillfolk (though I might be able to fix the latter gap at DunDraCon). The question now is what systems do I want to delve deeper into.

My exposure to GUMSHOE thus far suggests that I could easily hack it to do most of the stories I want (it's just short of Fate in that way). But there is not much new intrinsic to the system once you get past the mystery solving component (which I already used incorporated into a previous World of Darkness game).

Fate, for its part, breaks immersion too much for me to be my regular game. I have definite game ideas where it would work best but as a system of choice it is lacking.

So my main systems will be World of Darkness (flexible and with a wealth of game ideas) and the various Apocalypse World games (low prep and fast play). I also plan to split those systems between my local (horror adverse) and remote groups. So once my online group completes destroying the vampire conspiracy in Night's Black Agents sometime early next summer, we'll move to some combination of Beast, Mage, or Demon.

Locally I'm considering possibly a cyberpunk (the Sprawl) or urban fantasy (Urban Shadows, low on the horror angle) games. The one complication is that my local players are expecting their own little one next year and that may limit our gaming heavily. I might end up having to recruit new players, thus changing the entire set up.

Gaming with Baby

Or as it will soon be: Gaming with Toddler.

Things are working out here. I've carved out 1.5 hours between the end of work and when my son gets picked up from daycare for myself plus up to 2 hours after his bedtime. That should hopefully give me plenty of time for my projects and writing.

Writing Plans

This is part about the blog and part about some new horizons.

For the blog I don't expect much to change. There will be no more dialog filled Actual Plays (unless I find a good software answer for transcription) but synopsis-style blogs with notes for rule usage and game master decisions will continue. I plan to keep a similar schedule to this years: every Monday (following a given theme for some months) and Friday, alternating between campaign recaps and whatever random ideas I have (mostly reviews, game mastering theory and random thoughts).

As for new stuff, I'd like to work on my own fiction writing. It's been many many years since I wrote purely for fiction purposes and not as part of prep for a game or for a blog. But I know I can produce much more material than I currently do for the blog. I've been looking at freelance writing. I'd like to dedicate that free time to material that might someday be published, whatever that might mean.

Related to that subject, one project I hope to complete soon is to compile some of my larger series of articles into pdfs for easy distribution. Specifically I have a couple of World of Darkness adventures and my Changeling setting. Expect one of more of them some time in the first half of the year.

50 Shades of Vampire: Our Lady of Cockroaches

Okay just one last vampire article for the year (ha!). This week I present a character concept that's high on the creep factor (at least for me, I hate roaches). This modern-day vampire protects both the people of her territory and her insect servants. Is she insane or is this all an act?

Our Lady of Cockroaches

Jeff reached through the shattered pane and opened the window. Rumors claimed the apartment had been abandoned but even in the dim light he could make out furniture. He licked his lips and climbed in.

He panned his jittery light across the room. His shoulder slumped as he made out only the profiles of a rotten sofa, a broken TV, and a pile of rags in the corner. The TV looked older than his grandfather and in equally terrible condition. He thought better of reaching into the sofa.

He opened the door to the next room.

The roaches swarmed over every surface: floors, ceilings, walls, the handle of the door Jeff desperately tried to swing the door shut as he stumbled back.

He bumped straight into something cold and solid. Turning around he saw what he mistook for rags, a woman, her skin and hair stained with dirt. He began to retch as he saw the roaches crawling over her too.

Then she grabbed him.

Description

Liz, as she calls herself, wanders around in a ragged dress darkened with dirt and less identifiable stains. Layers of filth obscure her naturally light complexion except in where she has recently scraped up against something. Vermin crawl through her hair and across her body.

History

Elizabeth Porter, to those who have pierced her murky past, grew up in the city, not far from where she now lurks. She and her husband (John she thinks his name was) moved out as soon as they were able, buying a small house far from the grime and danger of their upbringing. They dreamed of white picket fences, green lawns and the pitter-patter of little feet.

But their dream was not to be. A vampire, one of the last scions of the Melissidae (Bloodlines the Legendary), had begun to build a nest nearby, twisting the inhabitants of this cookie cutter neighborhood into her drones. In Liz, she saw the potential for a new queen.

Naturally, the current queen first removed everything that would tie her new daughter to her old life: her friends, her husband, her hopes, her dreams and finally her life. The queen bee entombed and molded Liz's mind. But something went wrong. A lock failed. A final frantic attempt at escape succeeded. Liz found a train into the city before her neighbors could retrieve her.

Now without a home and a mind half mad from magical brainwashing, Liz would be just another damaged vagrant if she wasn't also an undead monster. Never fully brought into the bloodline, her understanding of her powers remains limited. She's discovered a sympathy with the vermin the city, bending their colonies to her purposes, turning them into her guardians and spies.

On some level she recognizes the damage done to her and seeks to protect others from it. She prowls her neighborhood driving away other monsters who would feed or harm "her people." The inhabitants have noticed this protection, muttering prayers to the ghostly figure that prowls at night. Local Kindred have come to mock her as "Our Lady of Cockroaches" but have yet to dislodge her. For herself, she feeds from the inhabitants cautiously, sipping lightly from the thin children and desperate men of the slum.

Clan: Ventrue Bloodline: Melissidae
Covenant: None
Mask: Pariah Requiem: Nurturer

Adapting the Melissidae

For the most part I would keep the bloodline's bonuses similar to first edition. They gain a +2 bonus to using Animalism on insects and other anthropods but suffer a -1 penalty to control other animals.

I'd also consider adding the following devotion:

Ghoul Swarm

Prerequisite: Animalism 3, Dominate 2
Cost: 2 Vitae per yard of radius
Dice Pool: Presence + Animal Ken + Animalism

With this power, the Kindred can create swarms of animals that collectively function as a ghoul. By sacrificing copious amounts of Vitae and allowing the swarm of small creatures (Size 1 or less) to collectively feed from it, the Kindred can create a hive mind among the vermin. The swarm gains the mystic ability use Vitae to restore lost members (restoring Health and radius) and to gain Physical Disciplines. However the passive abilities of those Disciplines do not apply to the swarm, only those abilities activated with Vitae.

50 Shades of Vampires, Part IV

Originally published April 17, 2013

Yet another installment of variant vampires. This week we will look at an idea from World of Darkness: Antagonists with a twist: fungus infested vampires.

Just one vision of vampires

The idea for this brand of vampires comes from a story seed idea for the flesh dissolving mold in the final chapter. That concept was that the mold could bond with a vampire resulting some sort of flesh dissolving undead. That is cool but could be more interesting. What I want is a vampire that turns one of assumptions about vampires on its head. Namely that fire is a good weapon to use against the undead.

The idea borrows a bit from the reaction of some pine trees, such as the Jack pine to wild fires. With Jack pines fire activates the pine cones allowing new trees to grow after a forest fire. So combine this with a parasitic fungus living inside an undead creature and you have a creature that when exposed to fire releases spores.

That's good but not good enough. So let's make those spore hallucinogenic Thus setting an infected vampire on fire makes its living attackers trip out. While fighting a frenzied vampire.

Thus the Malphaens were born in my long running Mage: the Awakening chronicle. They are my version of Belial’s brood, Satanic vampires who ritually seed their bodies with this fungus. It in turns instills a constant tension of frenzy in them and opens the way to strange deviant powers. It also serves as a defense of sorts against mortals foolish enough to set them on fire. Even as one of them burns alive the others can take advantage of their foes disorientation and fear to strike back.

Mechanics

Essentially trapped in a continual state of frenzy, they gain a +1 bonus to all physical rolls and +2 bonus to resist mental domination. They suffer -2 penalty to rein in their rage but +2 bonus to overcome any fear.

They release spores in the area around them. Though they can't normally infect living creatures and quickly die in the absence of a viable host, they do cause psychedelic reactions. A Stamina + Resolve roll is necessary to resist the toxins. If exposed the fire, the toxins become stronger imposing a -3 penalty to the roll. The spores cause a -2 penalty to rolls and Defense due to nightmarish visions of fire and demons. An Intelligence + Empathy at -1 penalty is required for the victim to even realize that they are hallucinating.

As a Covenant

The Malphaens as a covenant recruit mostly of Daeva, Gangrel and Nosferatu clans. They favor the Celerity, Nightmare, Protean, Resilience, and Vigor disciplines though do not gain any particular bonuses with them beyond the powers below.
Gifts of the Rot

Infested (Prerequisite: Resilience 2) The spores thoroughly infect the vampire, showing up as black veins and discolored eyes. They suffer a penalty to all social rolls except intimidate equal to the level of infested. Due to the constant pain however they are immune to wound penalties. This costs 10 XP.

Decay (Prerequisite: Protean 2/Resilience 2) Rather than go into torpor, the vampire collapses into the ground as a greasy pile of mold. The mold itself can be destroyed with effort (it has structure equal the vampires health and resists fire as if it had durability 2). This costs 10 XP.

Rotten (Prerequisite: a total of 6 dots in Protean & Resilience): The vampire's body is transformed by the fungus internally. Their heart and consciousness is now spread throughout their bodies as they and the fungus become one. The vampire no longer has special vulnerabilities to being shot in the head or heart. A stake to the heart will still paralyze them but in theory they can survive beheading. This costs 30 XP.

Corrupt: the vampire can destroy objects with an acidic touch. This takes the form of a rapidly spreading fungal rot. There is no cost but they roll Stamina + Blood Potency to damage the object and its durability still needs to be overcome. It can also use this ability to infect other corporeal undead with the fungus. This is a an opposed Stamina + Blood Potency roll vs. the targets Stamina + Resolve + Blood Potency. This is an automatic benefit of the Malphaens.

Speedy Decay (Prerequisite: Celerity 2, Corrupt): the vampires can now affects an area with a single Decay attack. It affects a circular patch with a base radius of 1 yard. Double the radius once per dot of Celerity. This costs 15 XP.

Visions of Nightmares (Prerequisite: Nightmare 2) Using their mastery of fear they gain some control over the visions their victims suffer. This gives a bonus equal to their dots in Nightmare to all Nightmare rolls used against character's effected by their spores.

Conclusion

Turning a weakness into a strength needs careful attention to make it seem like something other than nerfing the character's tactics. It needs a good story and unexpected consequences. I hope you've enjoyed this variant vampire.

50 Shades of Vampire: Demon the Descent crossovers

Finishing off some of the last ideas I came up in the process of creating a Vampire: the Requiem character, I have some crossover ideas. Specifically how I would make a Demon the Descent crossover.

Blood and Gears

A Demon: the Descent crossover

Themes

When combining games, I always find it best to start with themes that both games share. It helps to keep the game focused and generally drives the player characters of both groups together.

For Vampire and Demon, I think we need to dig deep into the generational struggles of Vampire and the rage against the machine of Demon. A theme of struggle against a cruel authority works well for both games.

In this scenario the elders of the city are in league, openly or in secrecy, with the Machine. Together they manipulate the mortal population, placing the right people in charge, pushing through the desired projects, and eliminating troublesome obstructions whether they be mortals, Demons, or Kindred. Our player characters should be the rebels working to overturn the establishment.

An interesting idea would be to add organizational occult matrices to the game. In other words, if people X, Y, and Z take key positions in city hall a magical effect is created.

Perhaps if a fourth candidate is financed enough to support a run for mayor and all the candidates' coffee is dosed with certain heavy metals, the elected mayor will achieve a landslide victory (with 88.8% of the vote) and be replaced by an angel upon being sworn in to office.

Covenants and Agendas

In any crossover game the politics of each different faction will be given less attention. So it helps to pick out a few that work well with the other side and focus on those.

An obvious new covenant to include are the Holy Engineers from The Danse Macabre. These vampires suffer from something called radio sickness, where they receive messages from the future for questions they haven't asked yet. These answers come from the God-Machine.

Following our theme above, they are clearly in bed with the enemy, a cult of monsters who serve the Machine and push its plans. We should probably use them to replace the Circle of the Crone and/or Lancea Sanctum in the city.

The Invictus, as our default vampire government, are probably already in league with the Engineers. Or maybe the Carthians with their "new" politics have teamed up with this symbol of technological progress to create a new regime. Either way both covenants remain viable for players as either the rebels seeking to topple the corrupt authorities or the men/women on the inside trying to clean up a broken system.

For the Demons, the same can be said for Integrators. The other Agendas should fit in fairly well with the various Vampire factions. Demons after all are natural rebels.

A few possible covenant/agenda team ups suggest themselves. Inquisitors and the Ordo Dracul could probe the secrets of the machine, sometimes at cross purposes. The Lancea Sanctum might join the Saboteurs destroy this false god. Any vampire is likely to be on good terms with a Tempter.

Another possible link comes from the source of the Theban sorcery. Are the rituals really the tools from God? Or the God-Machine? What if new rituals appear that summon Angels?

Bloodlines

Every time you've heard someone say they saw a ghost, or an angel. Every story you've ever heard about vampires, werewolves, or aliens, is the system assimilating some program that's doing something they're not supposed to be doing.

But like so many back then they caused more problems than they solved.

Adding a bloodline tied to the God-Machine might be fun. Riffing off the Matrix Reloaded, perhaps the Machine has created a set of vampiric servants to supplement its Angels. And to tie this into Demon, maybe some of those servants have rebelled...

Background: Once the Machine sought to create servants which could propagate themselves, that would help it control the masses of humanity it needed for this stage of its plans. Rather than create something anew, it took a short cut and transformed existing supernatural beings: vampires.

These agents gained access to its resources, learned new powers, and helped correct flaws in its schemes before they toppled vital occult matrices.

But like many tools of the Machine, they too were flawed. Slowly they began to manipulate the system to their benefit. Some rebelled, some simply subverted places of power. Eventually the God-Machine had enough and ended the experiment.

But a few escaped the purge and carry on the fight to this day.

Nickname: Agents, Unplugged
Clan: Mehket
Bloodline Bane: All Agents suffer a permanent Glitch (see Demon: the Descent, p.184)
Bloodline Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity, Dominate, Obfuscate
Bloodline Gift: All Agents can perceive Infrastructure as if they possessed Unseen Sense (God-Machine). They also have the ability to manifest something like a demonic form. Pick a Modification or Technology upon joining the bloodline. If the Agent spends 1 Vitae they can manifest the ability but must also make a roll of Humanity +4 or gain the Surveilled condition (Demon: the Descent p.120).

It rumored that some members of the bloodline learn to activate multiple abilities through some form of the Terrible Form Merit (Demon: the Descent p.122).

Other Threats

Recently rumors have begun circulating of a new bloodline, possibly derived from the Ventrue clan. They've shown evidence of the Celerity, Dominate, Obfuscate, and Resilience Disciplines and seem prone to Glitches related to odd behavior and madness. Are they more rebels or new, more loyal, servants of the Machine?

50 Shades of Vampire: Raven Woman

As I prepare for a vampire game, I find myself with cornucopia of character ideas. Here is one of the rejects. Hopefully you find it useful.

Since the game in question is an Elders game using Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition and the Primacy rules from Damnation City, I'll be posting stats as a starting PC Agent, a 25 XP Rank Elder and a 75 XP Mover and Shaker.

This week we have a homeless lady with claims to greatness.

Raven Woman

Description

Your eyes almost slide off of her. Just another vagrant woman feeding the birds with more dirt than dye in her tangled hair, clutching a garbage bag with one arm while the other tosses treats to the pigeons and crows that crowd thickly around her.

Very thickly. Those treats look more like drops of blood, leaking thickly from a slashed wrist.

Perhaps you move to help or just to check that she's not dying. She looks up at you, her complexion the color of coffee and cream gone sour. Dozens of cold black eyes join her gaze.

Seems the birds like meat as much as blood.

Background

There are several rumors of who the Raven Woman is.

The first and most common says that she's revenant, a mortal who was unintentionally raised as one of the Damned or suffered a botched Embrace. Just one of the many homeless that survive in the shadows of the city, she was killed by a Kindred who had fallen to its Beast. But she doesn't stay dead. She rises as something like the Damned but weaker, hungrier, and a potential breach of the Masquerade. Some suspect the culprit was a Savage, others a Haunt. A few whisper that she might be the product of a Lord and tend to point to one of the more degenerate members of the Ventrue clan.

A variant on this story says that an ambitious ancilla (the specific one changes with each telling) elevated her to use as a pawn in his power struggles. When his plans were squashed she was left orphaned.

A second less common rumor states she's a nomad who ambushed by local Kindred several decades ago. The long torpor left her damaged and her memories incomplete. Supporters of this theory point out her exceptional skills over the blood for a mere revenant. Some have tried to recruit her into their covenant or coterie but have been rebuffed, sometimes violently.

The least accepted theory comes from a Gangrel neonate who claimed to extract a broken narrative from the woman herself. She said that the Raven Woman was born in the city over a century ago, perhaps in small town destroyed to make way for the city park. Embraced sometime in the late 19th century, she worked under the Prince of that era until he was overthrown. History and the word of the Elders claim that the Prince and his supporters suffered Final Death for their crimes. But the Raven Woman survived her savage beating and century long torpor.

The neonate claims she awoke with little knowledge of who and what she was. The current head of the Invictus took a particular interest in her story. The Gangrel was last seen in his presence.

Stats: Agent

This version of the Raven Woman really is just a crazy vagrant, though one with useful skills and allies.

Concept: Uplifted Revenant
Birth: 1946     Embrace: 2007
Clan: Ventrue Covenant: None
Mask: Spy      Dirge: Survivor

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 3
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2 [3]
Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 2

Mental Skills: Investigation 3, Occult 1
Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Larceny 2, Stealth (unobtrusive) 2, Survival (urban) 2
Social Skills: Animal Ken (birds) 3, Intimidation 1, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 1

Merits: Acute Senses 1, Allies (homeless) 2, Anonymity 2, Contacts (homeless) 1, Haven 1, Safe Place 3

Blood Potency: 1
Disciplines: Animalism 2, Resilience 1

Stats: Rank Elder

Here Raven Woman is what she claims, an elder vampire well over a century old. Sadly she's spent most of that time buried in an unmarked grave. Worse, the beating she suffered before hand has damaged her memory and skills.

Concept: Broken Elder
Birth: 1846        Embrace: 1867
Clan: Ventrue    Covenant: None
Mask: Spy         Dirge: Survivor

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 3
Physical Attributes: Strength 2 [3], Dexterity 3, Stamina 2 [3]
Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 2

Mental Skills: Investigation 3, Occult 1, Politics 1
Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Brawl 3, Larceny 2, Stealth (unobtrusive) 2, Survival (urban) 2
Social Skills: Animal Ken (birds) 3, Intimidation 1, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 1

Merits: Acute Senses 1, Allies (homeless) 2, Anonymity 2, Contacts (homeless) 1, Haven 1, Safe Place 3

Blood Potency: 1
Disciplines: Auspex 1, Animalism 4, Dominate 2, Obfuscate 1, Resilience 1, Vigor 1

Spent XP: 25

Stats: Mover and Shaker

In this case the Raven Woman isn't telling the whole story. She did spend time in torpor and the experience did damage her memories. But not her skills. Instead she's compiling dossiers on those in power then and now, tracking down who hurt her and planning a rather painful revenge.

Concept: Shattered but Deadly
Birth: 1846     Embrace: 1867
Clan: Ventrue Covenant: None
Mask: Spy       Dirge: Monster

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 3
Physical Attributes: Strength 2 [3], Dexterity 3, Stamina 2 [3]
Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 3

Mental Skills: Investigation 3, Occult 1, Politics 1
Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Brawl 3, Larceny 2, Stealth 2, Survival (urban) 2
Social Skills: Animal Ken (birds) 3, Intimidation (crazy) 3, Streetwise 4, Subterfuge (misdirection) 2

Merits: Acute Senses 1, Allies (homeless) 2, Anonymity 2, Contacts (homeless) 1, Haven 1, Riding the Wave 5, Safe Place 3

Blood Potency: 3
Disciplines: Auspex 1, Animalism 4, Celerity 2, Dominate 2, Obfuscate 1, Resilience 2, Vigor 2
Devotions: Subsume the Lesser Beast

Spent XP: 75

50 Shades of Vampires, Part VI

Originally published September 4, 2013

Last time when I discussed vampires I talked about treating parts of the vampiric condition like a disease. This time rather than a specific aspect, lets look at the degeneration of a vampire into something less and greater than it: the devolution of the wyrm.

The material for this article draws from the characters Butcher Worm, also known as Holger Kochfleischer, from Night Horrors: Immortal Sinners and Zmai the Worm from the Werewolf: the Forsaken book Predators. What both of these books have in common is a bloodthirsty almost limbless thing that once might have been a vampire.

The Butcher Worm is an intermediate case of this disease. Holger was once a seemingly normal Nosferatu. For the past two centuries though he has been degenerating into an obese maggot. Every century he grows larger, fatter, and less human thanks to a special Devotion.

Zmai is an extremely advanced case of this disease, what Holger might someday reach in a thousand years. While not called out as a vampire, this vast eyeless worm possesses blood that is addictive and empowering to mortals and a vulnerability to sunlight. The possible connection is clear.

Wyrm Sickness

The condition called Wyrm Sickness seems to strike only Elder vampires, particularly those of the Nosferatu and Gangrel clans. Other clans claim their degenerate ways are the cause but the truth might lie with an unexpected side effect of mastering the Nightmare and Protean Disciplines.

Those that succumb begin to slowly mutate into serpent-like monsters. The progression is different in every case but the following transformations are universal.

The subject's mouth mutates and becomes more dangerous and inhuman. One vampire's mouth might become full of needle like fangs while some like Holger see their teeth turn inward like fishhooks. An elder named Kyros has seen his jaw distend as it fills with shark's teeth.

The body stretches and grows. Some put on layer after layer of fat while others grow taller and thinner. At some point the body is unable to support the added weight and the vampire is forced to crawl and slither along the earth.

Limbs slowly atrophy. Arms and legs vanish under layers of undead flesh or wither away to uselessness. Shoulders collapse and hips melt away.

Other odder mutations can occur. Eyes can seal shut. Tails can sprout. Some victims are encased in armored scales while others retain smooth soft flesh. The progression is slow taking centuries in most cases.

Mechanics

Only those vampire with at least 3 dots in both Protean and Nightmare can contract the disease and only if their Blood Potency is 4 or higher.

Each time they would gain a dot of Blood Potency, they must roll Composure + Resolve vs. their own Stamina + Blood Potency + Protean. For each success they fail by, some part of who they were is lost. Options include:

• Increased Size by 1 as they stretch and grow but their Species Factor bonus to Speed decreases by 1 (Minimum 0).
• Their Strength increases by 1 but they suffer a -1 cumulative penalty to Dexterity rolls using their hands or arms as they wither away.
• They gain armor 1. However they can no longer pass as human.
• They gain a horrific bite dealing 2 Lethal. Their voice however ceases to sound human in any way.

Example Afflicted: Kyros

Concept: Scary Elder

Background: Kyros currently reigns as Prince in the City of Norfolk, Virginia having recently ousted the prior Prince thanks to the help of the local Ordo Dracul and their allies. Kyros has been steadily growing his power base since his awakening in the mid 19th century. His torpor left him quite addled and he found his affliction greatly advanced.

Kyros's origins are a mystery even to him. Records and recollections in nearby Portsmouth suggest he may have been one of the first vampires in the Virginia colony. Most accept his belief that he was an established vampire by the time of the Hundred Year War, suggesting that he was embraced in 13th century or earlier. His Greek name suggests either a Byzantine connection or perhaps ties to an even earlier time.

Description: An inhumanly tall thin man, Kyros wraps his voluminous form in black silk. In particular he wears a veil to hide his hideously deformed mouth which has become permanently unhinged as it filled with chisel-like teeth. He speaks with difficulty, his words obscured by the clattering of his monstrous teeth.

Embrace: 13th century?
Apparent Age: 64
Clan: Nosferatu
Faction: Invictis

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 5, Wits 4, Resolve 5
Physical Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 3, Stamina 5
Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 5, Composure 4

Mental Skills: Academics 3, Crafts 2, Investigation 3, Medicine 2, Occult 4, Politics 4, Science 3
Physical Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Drive 2, Firearms 3, Larceny 3, Stealth 4, Survival 3, Weaponry 4
Social Skills: Animal Ken 2, Empathy 5, Expression 3, Intimidation 5, Persuasion 5, Socialize 5, Streetwise 3, Subterfuge 4

Merits: Allies (local government) 3, Allies (police) 2, Haven (defense 4) 3, Herd 2, Language (French) 2, Language (Greek) 2, Language (Latin) 2, Resources 5, Status (City) 4, Status (Nosferatu) 3, Status (Invicitis) 4

Willpower: 9
Humanity: 3
Virtue: Prudence
Vice: Greed
Initiative: 7
Defense: 3
Speed: 11
Size: 7
Health: 12

Blood Potency: 6
Disciplines: Auspex 4, Dominate 4, Nightmare 6, Protean 4, Resilience 3, Vigor 4

Notes: His inhuman mouth gives him a bite that deals lethal damage with a +3 bonus (or 2 Lethal if using the GMC rule update). He has gained 2 dots of size and lost 2 dots of speed. He suffers a -1 penalty to Dexterity with any thing requiring manipulation.

Custom Discipline: Nightmare 6: Kyros can control nightmares inflicting them on anyone he has mental contact with (such as through Auspex 4 telepathy) or even such arcane connections as Scrying. His Presence + Intimidation + Nightmare is opposed by the victim's Resolve + Blood Potency. For every success he beats the victim by the victim suffers 1 sleepless night. This restricts them from regaining Willpower through sleep and imposes a cumulative -1 penalty to all rolls until they can rest.

50 Shades of Vampire: Changelings

As we near the end of the year, it's time to finish off my backlog of vampire ideas from last summer. This time we'll look at another crossover idea mixing Vampire: the Requiem with Changeling: the Lost.

Dark Dreams

A Changeling: the Lost Crossover

So first I need to decide on the themes of the game. They should draw strongly from both games. Two ideas come to mind immediately. One is the theme of stolen lives. Both Changelings and Vampires had their lives snatched from them. Both can never really go home again. And both supernaturals have to come to terms with that or lose their minds.

The other theme is that of deals. Vampires are political creatures, well aware of favors owed and payment due. They possess an innate way to bind people to them through their blood bond. If Changelings put their faith in magically empowered contracts, Vampires put their's in blood. Changelings of course have their Contracts and Pledges. The interaction between these two sets of dealers should be interesting. Changelings should have the advantage but I find Vampire players much cannier in practice.

Speaking of blood, a vampire might lair in the Hedge, perhaps feeding on hobs through the Unnatural Affinity merit. They are not explicitly harmed by the Hedge though it would seem uncomfortable (and draining should they stray from the path).

This suggests an idea to me, one that I used in my Changeling game: Into the Hedge. A Vampire bloodline could be created when its founder broke a Pledge, perhaps with a True Fae. The curse penalized them and their childer with a new bane. But somehow part of the boon lingers twisted in their blood.

Covenants and Courts

A few covenant choices recommend themselves for a game like this. The Lancea Sanctum can draw on the rich seam of legendry about the church and the fae. The Ordo Dracul would of course be interested in exploring whether fae magic could yield a release from aspects of the curse.

Then there is the covenant from The Danse Macabre, the Children of the Thorns, who serve some sort of fae creature known as Bloody Mary. Through her they possess the power to travel (awkwardly) vast distances. The logistics of such travel are complicated and I'm not sure how well it would work in anything but a globe-trotting game.

As for Changelings, the Autumn and Winter courts work well with vampires, through curiosity and mutual survival strategies respectively. Darklings and Beasts probably also get along well with the Kindred.

Devotions and Disciplines

One way to make Vampire work better with Changeling is to create some custom Devotions dealing with dreams and emotions. That would allow Kindred to involve themselves in more aspects of Changeling existence.

Nightmare would fit thematically with powers involving real nightmares and dreamscaping. Here's an example:

Nightmarecaping 

Prerequisites: Auspex 2, Nightmare 3
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Presence + Expression + Nightmare (see Dreamriding for further rules)

Upon a successful use of Nightmare 3 on a target they can then access their dreams when they next sleep. By meditating on the subject and spending a point of Vitae, they can enter and manipulate the subject's dreamscape. The dreams immediately take on a dark terrifying cast as the Kindred's Beast twists them unconsciously. Otherwise this works as dreamriding using the above dice pool for all actions.

Majesty and Nightmare might both be used for emotion manipulation. There are ample Devotions to show how that might work.

Lastly Bloodlines: the Hidden presents the Alucinor, masters of a unique Discipline known as Insomnium. Converting this Discipline into a set of Devotions opens up a number of crossover options.

Dreams of the Many

Prerequisites: Auspex 2
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Wits + Empathy + Auspex vs. Resolve + Power

By attuning to the dreams of a mortal using some object of value to them, the vampire can learn about them, unraveling their secrets. Upon successfully activating this power, the Kindred experiences some aspect of the subject's current dreams. They uncover some minor secret like a hidden fear or valued item. This insight can be used to gain a +1 bonus to social rolls against the subject for a month or can be used to open 1 Door when Social Maneuvering the subject.

Oneiromancy

Prerequisites: Auspex 2
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Wits + Occult + Auspex

By dwelling on the dreams and nightmares themselves, the vampire can potentially see what the future portends. Success grants a single reroll to be used that night. This Discipline can only be used once per night.

Lucid Dreaming

Prerequisites: Auspex 2, Dreams of the Many
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Subterfuge +Auspex vs. Resolve + Power

An alternate route to dreamscaping, this power allows a vampire to manipulate the dreams of others. Each success allows a single detail to be changed in the dream. This level of power does not allow them to attack the dreamer or force anything from them.

Chain the Enslumbered Mind

Prerequisites: Nightmare 3, Auspex 2
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Empathy + Nightmare vs. Resolve + Power

The vampire inflicts night terrors on a sleeping mortal either physically present or affected by Dreams of the Many. The victims find their bodies and minds sluggish and almost paralyzed. With a successful activation the subject suffers a -2 penalty to actions for an hour per successes upon awakening.

Blissful Sleep

Prerequisites: Dominate 2
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Persuasion + Dominate vs. Resolve + Power

This power urges the subject to fall asleep and remain into a deep sleep until the end of the scene. Nothing short of suffering damage will awaken the victim. Vampires are affected as if they were active during the day.

Travails of Morpheus

Prerequisites: Nightmare 4
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Extended and contested; Manipulation + Subterfuge + Nightmare vs. Composure + Power. The target number is the Willpower of the opponent.

By reaching into the darkest dreams of a sleeping victim (either present or reached through Dreams of the Many) the vampire can physically harm them. Once the target number is reached the victim suffers Bashing damage equal to the vampire's Intelligence.

Sleepwalker

Prerequisites: Dominate 3
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Expression + Dominate - Resolve

This power works like Entombed Command except that the commands activate while the subject remains asleep and leave the victim with no memory of the event.

Experience Cost: 1 XP