Vampire EditionTell us about your horror settings, games, etc. Share inspirational art, prompts, etc.>List of games:Call of Cthulhu, Chill, Cold and Dark, Degenesis, Delta Green, Don't Rest Your Head, Dread, Esoterrorists/Fear Itself+Book of Unremitting Horror, Fall of Delta Green, GORE, Into The Shadows, KULT, Little Fears, Mothership RPG, Nemesis (free on Arc Dream's website), Nights Black Agents, Silent Legions (Mostly for the tables), Stalker: The SciFi RPG, Symbaroum, Ten Candles, Trail of Cthulhu, Unisystem (All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Witchcraft, Conspiracy X, etc.), Unknown Armies, The Whispering Vault, Vaesen>Inspirational stuff:Caitlin R Kiernan, Castlevania, Carnacki the Ghost-Finder, Doom Watch, Fear & Hunger, George Romero, Ghostwatch, House of Leaves, I Am In Eskew, John Carpenter, Kolchak the Nightstalker, Laird Barron, John Langan, M.R. James, Nick Cutter, Old Gods of Appalachia, Quatermass, Ramsey Campbell, Remedy Series (Alan Wake, Control), SCP Foundation, Scarfolk Council, Shaun Hutson, Silent Hill, Stand Still Stay Silent, The Evil Dead, The Magnus Archives, The Secret World, The Stone Tapes, Anatomy, Thomas Ligotti, Twin Peaks, Vault of Evil forums, toomuchhorrorfictionOther News:"The Sutra of Pale Leaves: Carcosa Manifest" coming later this yearhttps://www.chaosium.com/blogcoming-in-2025-for-call-of-cthulhu-the-sutra-of-pale-leaves-carcosa-manifest/Current Book Club Topic:"The Salem Horror" by Henry Kuttnerhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76108Questions for the thread:>What is your favorite depiction of vampires?>Do like the traditional methods to defeat them such as wooden stakes and sunlight?>Would you like see different vampire types from other cultures?Previous thread:>>96389557Please try to keep arguing to a minimum. Don't respond to bait/drama/politics posts.And as usual, try and keep it alive. Make a new thread if its not in the catalog.
>>96428273There should be more body horror with vampires. It's boring to always see them depicted in stuff as looking like normal people.
>>96428273>>What is your favorite depiction of vampires?RIFTS interpretation of them being servants of eldritch gods sucking life's psychic energy. The more powerful the vampire no need to suck blood, but straight psychic drainage (blood is merely a medium of transfer). >>Do like the traditional methods to defeat them such as wooden stakes and sunlight?Often corny, but integrating stakes into modern weapons are a classic challenge in this genre. Also like the use of natural barriers like rivers and houses. >>Would you like see different vampire types from other cultures?Isn't this like default yes nowadays?>>96428471I like bloodbornes interpretation on the creature as well. Having other-worldy blood corrupt the body ans such. I also like parasite-hybridization of Darkest Dungeon.
>>96428471We had a vampire worldbuilding project going on way back when. Wonder what happened to that.
>>96428273>>What is your favorite depiction of vampires?Let the Right One In, at least this century.>>Do like the traditional methods to defeat them such as wooden stakes and sunlight?Not much, honestly. I mean, vampires are a thing and you can't reinvent the wheel, sure, the wooden stake or the crucifix is a little too gimmicky. Stake them, but not necessarily with wood.Also, sunlight is like, a century old thing from movies. Cool vampires go into the street during the day like Drac, or at least wake up to glop cute girls a ten o clock like Carmilla.>>Would you like see different vampire types from other cultures?No.By all mean use other blood drinkers, but do not conflate with vampires. At least not easily. If just generates further confusion and bullshit, like hopping "vampires" from China.
>>96428471Fits into the usual "wolf among sheep" uncanny valley aspect though that's mostly more aristocratic wish-fulfilment these days. >>96428559 mosquito-vamps were indeed neat. Nice when animalistic influences go beyond bats.Cringey as the edge is I do like the technologically resurrected obligate-cannibal hominids from Blindsight. Sounds like the pseudo-plausible schizo stuff I could dump in a less overtly supernatural game for surprise factor (sorta like The Descent).
>>96428273>>96428471Star Vampires aren't exactly vampires like we all know, but I love how otherworldly they are. The fact you do not normally see them unless they have already drained a victim is creepy.
>>96428273>What is your favorite depiction of vampires?I thought their depiction in the movie Daybreakers was interesting. They are the strange product of a disease from vampire bats. The most interesting thing about the movie though was its exploration of a world dominated by vampires and why it would be unsustainable.>Do like the traditional methods to defeat them such as wooden stakes and sunlight?It's basic but sure.>Would you like see different vampire types from other cultures?I am not really familiar with vampires in different cultures and how they differ from each other.
Does Paranoia count? I think the mission Hunger is pretty horrific.
>>96428273More media should have hybrids between werewolves and vampires. It is a cool combination. I only remember the Underworld movies having one. I will post some art exploring the idea.
>>96429646
>>96429650
>>96429658
Yiffe
>>96428273>Vampires
>>96429170I mean, it's not. They concoct a substitute and only let things go to shit because of the real bloodsuckers' (ie corp execs) greed. On the technomagic side UV guns are neat though if you want a true non-celestial sun alternative some fusion reactor's probably mandatory.>>9643169330DoN Nosferatu remind me of X-Files / Delta Green Greys. The Descent's mutants too, almost a low-key >>96429121 vibe in that they're warped by extradimensional kuru.
>>96428273>Would you like see different vampire types from other cultures?Absolutely. I think some of them are interesting. For example, the Iso onna from Japan is a mix of mermaid and siren that drinks blood through its hair.
>>96428273>An African Vampire Hunter is about to pounce on his prey, an Asanbosam before it makes a meal out of it's next victim.
>>96394809I did not get a chance to respond to this post last thread. I remember hearing about the Hooroo. Once saw speculation that it was the aboriginals memory of the extinct giant kangaroo that used to roam Australia.
>>96429646>>96429650>>96429658>>96429664Shamelessly stealing all of these. Thanks for posting, anon.
fhtagn
>>96429646>>96429650>>96429658>>96429664Kinda reminds me of that one japanese manga with the loli vampire queen and the society of noble werewolv bodyguards? Dance in the vampire bund, I think?
>Pic related>Great two first chapters>Rest is terribleKind of a mess of a campaign. What were they thinking? The two halves of the book are totally disconnected.
>>96428471i like to have the human + fangs look be mainly a glamor, depending on how old and depraved the vamp is. having them be totally inhuman can be cool too but like the other anon said i dont wanna entirely lose the hidden aspect of themsick art
i'm looking into running kult: divinity lost but i can't find the GM guide "KULT: beyond darkness and madness" anywhere. not on trove or any PDF site. anyone have a clue where i could get a hold of it?
>>96436067Now that's a spooky vampire.
Dinosaurs should be used more in horror.
>>96428273Oh good, there's a related thread. I am having a hell of a time trying to wrap my mind around this Ship Mapping procedure; it lists ship types as having multiple decks, which I'm interpreting as horizontal levels. But then a "Raider" ship, the smallest listed, would have 24 modules, while a Colony Ship could have anywhere from 100 to 600 modules. I tried generating a Mining Frigate myself, and it ended up with 78 modules, and the thing looks like a giant floating banana. There's also no guidance for travel between decks. Am I misreading something? Missing something? The picture provided doesn't provide what kind of ship it is meant to represent, and the online generators using Dead Planet seem to all display the ships generated as simple, 2D depictions.
>>96441871To illustrate my difficulties, I illustrated this with difficulty over, lord a week on-and-off, overlaying the "decks" as they seemed to fit (Cargo bays linking to cargo bays, cabins to cabins/galleys, etc.), but it's still a nightmare to imagine, much less visualize.
>>96441871>>96441899Feels like you could have simply used another system's ship generation procedure/premade ships instead of actually taking anything in either Mothership edition seriously.
>>96442038Would you happen to have any recommendations? Believe me, at this rate I'm very open to it.
>>96442093Yeah, if you want a space station, there's only one you'll ever need:https://ss13.moe/wiki/images/3/38/Box_large.jpeg
>>96441871>>96441899Both of these appear to be laid out completely at random, with not a hint of rhyme or reason to the design. Which is perhaps not too strange given that the "random generation" bit means that's just what they are, but it's not how we humans have built any ship, aircraft or space station so far, and seems highly unlikely to be how we'll design spaceships if we ever get around to it in the future.You're probably far better off just making something on your own, perhaps stealing some ideas from ocean-going ships. Unless you're specifically looking to create a Tzeenthcian ship for 40k, or the USS Escher-on-Acid.
>>96442215Yeah, with some random generators it can be easy to make sense of the results you get, but the nature of this generator is such that you get some silly things like "the crew has to pass by the nuclear generator on their way to breakfast". I was planning on using the subsequent ships for solo play (now) and a future scifi game with my group when my turn to GM comes around, but these results require a lot of fiddling around to make them workable. I also dislike using other people's premade maps, it feels like I'm being lazy/cheating/I also just enjoy making this kind of stuff.
>A horrific beast made up of many souls amalgamated into one eternally suffering, ever changing body.https://x.com/hannahorca/status/1961523154242928941
>>96443754Man that's a cool design.
>>96428273>After Reuniting a trio of kids who saw some really fucked up shit, Cliomancer GPC tells him "I'll handle things from here.">PC refuses to leave>Table gets to witness him use some Significant Mojo to the poor kids, who now think their friend just went missing and they found him in an Impound Lot, not that he was sent to a void dimension by an actual wizard>They panic.I love Unknown Armies.
>>96428471Exactly. The mythical vampire wasn't sexy in a Twilight way or a Dracula way. It was a disgusting, bloated rotting corpse.
>>96448243Depends on what you call "mythical vampire". Hellenistic lamias were deadly sexy and they are at least entwined with the modern vampire.
>>96428273>>96428471What do you guys think about the SCP Foundation take on vampires? There is more body horror involved.https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2191
>>96436067Look's like Scorn's parasite which is indeed very "neural" (though overall visceral) in its approach.>>96440118Natural necromancy fodder which segues nicely into dragons + reptilians + K/T extinction as mass sacrifice schizophrenia.>>96447361Indeed. Looks like it's a style-change away from being some heraldic beast.>>96448243iirc some myths depicted them as peasants in ruddy good health. That extra vitality had to have come from from somewhere...
Do you have any advice on how to maintain atmosphere over several sessions?
>>96450121>introduced a pair of utahraptors on my players, resurrected by dark magic>none of them had weapons other than hand tools they could find>session ended up being the kitchen scene from jurassic Park They actually really loved it
>>96453146>maintain atmosphere over several sessions?Depends on what you mean by "atmosphere," and the system you're playing.Atmosphere is usually an umbrella term for the emotions the players feel and it can be categorized in several ways:1) Tension is how much the players feels stress in the current situation. This is usually measured by the PCs level of endangerment (i.e. low HP, challenging enemies chasing you, etc.), but can also be evoked by urgency to do something (i.e finding a lost child, etc.) For tension you don't want to maintain it 24/7, as it's very tiring/numbing and should be dosed with frequent moments of relief (i.e. safe points, etc.) 2) Dread is how much the players do not want to do something, due to their knowledge of potential consequences for doing it. Stereotypical moments of these are like several dangerous clues leading to a location/point that the PCs have to go (i.e. All murder and kidnapping evidence leads to an isolated cult complex in the wilderness; the cultists are also heavily armed). Dread usually builds up by the accumulation knowledge so usually it's the twist/reveal in a scenario.3) Horror is a response measured on how much one's personal/sacred space has been invaded. This can be a variety of things like the PCs personal car being stolen, kidnapping of a family member, or possession of their bodies. If the PCs have some emotions attached to it, violate it to give a response of horror. Usually the strength of emotional response is ranked ascending by: Items, friends, family members, one's surroundings, one's body, and one's mind.4) Psychological Horror is a unique situation where one is the violator of one's personal/sacred space; AKA. I was a bad guy all along! Easiest way to do this is by ignorance (i.e. The magic item that you been using to save yourself was just transferring the damage to someone you cared).
>>96453443Thank you, your breakdown was very helpful. I wasn't thinking of them as different things.Do you have any more basic tips for DMing horror?
I heard that the 7th ed. version of Horror on the Orient Express got "updated" for the "modern audience". Is it as horrible as it sounds or is it fine?
>>96443754Reminds me of some depictions of demons from the middle ages, where joints in their body were just limbs emerging from mouths
Finally beat art block so i'm back on the grind, worked on some non-CoC stuff before this tho. Working on the Zhar and Lloigor card
>>96453517Study the rule system you're using, as much as the setting you're trying emulate. Even between editions there's a big difference. For example, in Call of Cthulhu 6th edition the PCs have a clear binary on pass/fail-ing their checks, while 7th edition allows players to push their rolls (a reroll at greater consequence for failure), so atmosphere can change dramatically (generally 6th has more predictable tension cycle, while 7th can go erratic really fast).
