Thousand Year Old Vampire - Tom B

Welcome to Thousand Year Old Vampire, the solo roleplaying game where you tell the life story of an immortal being. This is Mystery Quest, a roleplaying podcast where we play a variety of one-shot roleplaying games with a rolling cast of special guests.
Podcast: www.pickaxe.uk/mystery-quest
Patreon link: / mysteryquest
Follow the cast:
Tom: / angorytom
Tom B: / tombates

[@Mystery_Quest]

Check out the post-game chat here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qp_GZ5J8rtGhbJYsi=S9QK9gtukiA-Yn6y

[@TopLob]

It's funny that in the naming part, Tom mentions he'll be criticized for saying people didn't have surnames, but it's actually worse than what he suggested. People were just name shit like Miller (as in the guy who mills), Fisher (the guy who fishes), Farmer (the guy who farms), and so on. I'd be reluctant to even call those names. They're just professions. Here are some more: Taylor, Skylar (meaning scholar), Shepherd, Hunter, Sailor, Carter, Whistler, Baker, Smith and Mason. And one of those aren't even a profession. Just a guy who liked whistling. People didn't have names, just labels, and those labels became names. Tom was right, but the truth is even worse than what Tom thought.

[@MrHendrix17]

I know the DM screen is primarily to hide notes and dice rolls from players but it's doing an excellent job today of hiding whether Tom actually buttoned his shirt

[@zonedereve]

At least we know he doesn't have the mark of Bletch!

[@dergons]

This is technically correct, but I think we all know the truth

[@Rustles2]

The answer is always no

[@RauMins]

he is just hiding a plethora of alcoholic drinks

[@HelenaOfDetroit]

His shirt is just tucked into his trousers to make it look like it could be buttoned. Pretty sure it's got something to do with body hair getting caught in the buttons but I'm not a rocket scientist! I'll leave it to smarter folks to figure out. Then again, maybe his shirt is just a modern day Schrodinger's cat 😅

[@cyanyeti1556]

Over 90 minutes of Toms is a joyous occasion

[@nialmontana]

A whole 180 combined minutes of Toming!

[@PhyloDT]

Yeah, but Tom is my favorite though

[@Lukasaske]

We need more Toms! Get Hazell in there!

[@Quasmokay]

Tom B: I build a secret body factory Tom: *visibly brightens in joy*

[@RealHealingonTheBeat]

Mystery Quest: Tom² Special!

[@Lukasaske]

Tom isn't a square he's a person :v

[@RealHealingonTheBeat]

@@Lukasaske He's a WHAT????

[@andrewrobinson4019]

I bought 1000 year old vampire after Tom and Lewis played it--it's fantastic and so is this channel.

[@Elkott]

How does it play, is it a journaling game?

[@GlitchedAI]

@@ElkottMhm, it's penned as a "solo journaling improvisational game"

[@andrewrobinson4019]

@@Elkott Playing solo it's very much a journaling game do some brainstorming, roll some dice, react to prompts, etc. but even so, I was surprised by how things twisted and turned. I do think it's more fun when playing with someone else to bounce the story and idea off of.

[@TomMotTom]

where can I watch this?

[@andrewrobinson4019]

@@TomMotTom It was a jingle-jam thing I think, it's probably somewhere around the KZbinz

[@ManMadeOfIdiot]

"My dear friend, sweet Tom Bates". My heart melted that was so sweet.

[@ArathirCz]

The other times Tom played Thousand Year Old Vampire with yogs: Lewis - [Yogscast Live] - Tom & Lewis RPG What will it be???? 24/08/22 - DXMxjrFzpbI Alex - [Yogscast Live] - Warhammer FUN!!!! | w/ Tom & Alex | (22/03/2023) - starts around 0:48:14 - XUHwuq-qjYA

[@SkeletonInATrenchCoat]

This is actually excellent! I knew Tom ran this a second time, but I couldn't find it. Thanks!

[@lalli8152]

Thanks

[@doubledee8677]

Didn't he play with Ben once?

[@strategystuff5080]

I never knew he did it with alex! Thank you for your comment!

[@4F0xSake]

I think he played it on his stream once as well but not sure there's a vod

[@tierdra9513]

The news report was horrific, dying after a drug-fueled manic episode but the Oscar's "In Memorandum" for William "Mountain Bill" Hills was very touching.

[@fuzzball4599]

Get all the Toms together and play a game of Everyone is John but everyone is Tom

[@MrTuneslol]

That's actually a 🔥 idea!

[@dgenaraition]

amazing idea I love the Everyone is Tom idea

[@Zelmel]

The most cheerful "and now you have the new skill... GUILT!"

[@DamnCyrus]

What an actually tragic story, Tom really knocked it out of the part with the help of Tom. This was a nice fun surprise to learn the releases are moved to Friday.

[@daveid9271]

I like how Tom ends it like he's Nickolas Cage in Vampire's Kiss, basically wandering around shouting that he's a vampire

[@trentmuse7592]

Tom b could be anything and he chose a Knight's squire, it says a lot about him

[@MrTuneslol]

He really radiates and embodies squire energy 😅

[@swearimnotarobot3746]

Yes. Early episode. And Nigel and Marmalade is here.

[@PhyloDT]

They should have Tom cameo in Nigel and Marmalade as Killgore

[@DoABarrelRol1l]

I like the idea of Tom Bates being referred to as only 'the Nigal and Marmalade guy' just like Simon's moniker of 'the diggy diggy hole man'.

[@MisterSandmanzzZ]

I would love a "season" of TYOV or other 1 on 1 RPGs with the entire rotating cast of Mystery Quest players and Tom at the helm. That would be amazing!

[@MisterTingles]

i like the sort of nebulous intangibility of this system, where it's not strictly necessary to nail down what your vampire looks like/how monstrous it is, in order to facilitate some (especially later) parts of the story... at one point I was imagining like a completely skeletal husk, split and splayed open, skittering from shadow to shadow, and yet it still allowed for the haggard actor idea to make sense within the fantasy of the shared storytelling. I wanna run this with a couple friends, see what other ghastly tales can come about from this game, good stuff.

[@MagicKorus]

My headcanon is that after gaining the skill of guilt, Bill holes himself up and stops feeding on people. But this only causes him to grow weaker and eventually fall into a stupor where the vampiric curse starts to make him instinctively seek people to feed on. Barely conscious of what he's doing, he gets out and stumbles around trying to attack people. In the final confrontation when he's surrounded by the police, his vampiric curse urges him to screech like the death screecher did when it turned him, causing the police to unleash a volley of shots on him. Since he was weak to gunpowder and already in a weakened state, the traces of gunpowder on the bullets that pierced him cause the bullet wounds to fester rapidly and cover his body, until he simply crumbles away.

[@doleph1]

I'm so glad they brought back Ellen's legacy! I was thinking how lame it was that she just died off-screen of old age. I'd imagined she became a watcher and researched the existence of these immortals to learn how to stop them. Ellen then goes onto establish a vampire/immortal hunting society passed down through her bloodline. Love it! 👍

[@charr3d]

I reckon they got their hands on Hippocraties the Donkey and through experimenting on him they were able to discover the gunpowder vulnerability. They then used that knowledge to kill Bletch

[@doleph1]

@@charr3d Exactly!

[@DEthan-]

This video came out the same day I had a terrible accident 😢. And that accident was me forgetting to comment on this beautiful Tom-ception! *This is a late comment, for the Angorythm.*

[@MrHyper-kh6zb]

I loved this format I rly appreciate how Tom and Tom were so supportive of eachothers idea and crafted a great story

[@Pemble_]

Four minutes in and Tom B has already chosen to be a Squire, really channeling his petulant underling energy from Taskbox LOL

[@jeffreysanders612]

A non Saturday video?! It is a joyful day indeed, you truly spoil us

[@Petemeister22]

It's going to be coming out on Fridays from now on.

[@jeffreysanders612]

@@Petemeister22 it is a slightly less joyful day! But joyful all the same!

[@thefinal9923]

@@jeffreysanders612 Same vibe, I thought this was like a cute extra one-off and we'd get one tomorrow. Still delighted because I love both Tom's involved and I enjoy thousand year old vampire. It's an extremely marginal difference but I kind of preferred them coming out on Saturdays.

[@bitnewt]

I love how Tom's vampire went from modest squire to blood-bathing god king in a hundred years.

[@ceebrupt]

This was a really fun one off, went in so many different directions and loved the tragic kinda Sunset Boulevard/Baby Jane ending lol

[@Qu33nAl3x]

i need more of this with other yogs, tom was the perfect guest but i would love to how different people play. pyrion would obviously be a dream

[@Adam-it1qs]

Oh my god I've wanted more of this ever since Lewis and Alex played

[@TheHobohobbit]

When and where was this? I have no idea how I've missed something that sounds so good

[@Ommfgcool]

@@TheHobohobbit Copying my other comment: Check Yogs Live, it's the video titled "Tom & Lewis RPG What will it be???? 24/08/22". If you want smaller snippets, the channel "VOD Gobbo" has cut the VOD into five parts.

[@Marf4711]

@@TheHobohobbit They're on Yogscast Live, video titles are: Tom & Lewis RPG What will it be???? 24/08/22 Warhammer FUN!!!! | w/ Tom & Alex | (22/03/2023)

[@TheHobohobbit]

@@Marf4711 You are a legend kind sir/madam

[@Marf4711]

@@TheHobohobbit You're most welcome my friend, enjoy

[@Sc0ts]

I hope we get to see more of these every few months. I think Lydia would be a great guest since she could do depraved really well, or someone innocent like Briony or Kirsty would be a good laugh.

[@RubelliteFae]

Last time Tom played Thousand Year Old Vampire, I bought the PDF version and bought the book version for a friend! So goodge

[@YamiOni]

It's like Choose Your Own Adventure and Madlibs had a child, then that child grew up and had another child with Pen & Paper RPGs; what a great format!

[@MrTuneslol]

Each with just a _touch_ of being dropped on their heads 😅 God's I can't get enough of Mystery Quest. Tom(s) really do be spoil'in us. 😊

[@blister4walken]

Brilliant. The plot of the best vampire movie that was never made. Great to know there are good solo rpgs out there.

[@Derpingmuffin]

it's a good job Tom has played so much Vampire survivor

[@Rob6094Palmer]

Top class video, Tom squared has an incredible dynamic. Tom-B naturally fleshing out every action was wonderful and Tom-C being an excellent GM as ever.

[@folkloristofthefuture8152]

Always a treat to get more thousand year old vampire, Alex and Lewis playing this are still some of my favorite yogs streams

[@Aussie_Archmage]

Was pleasantly surprised to see that Tim Hutchins' (the author) latest newsletter mentioned this playthrough! Heck of a fast turn around. Great tale as always. Inspired me to do another TYOV playthrough. This time I'm going to do a fill journaling run.

[@spike9653]

One of my favourite Mystery Quest's thus far, you both weave such a beautifully tragic tale and it was just an absolute blast to watch you two tell a brilliant story.

[@totallycarbon2106]

Oooh this was an absolute treat! Thanks Tom and Tom! Really loved how you adapted the solo play into a conversational interview style!

[@venomwolfsbain8568]

Thousand year old vampire is such a good game, so versatile and varied each time someone plays. This was such a great video. Tom Bates played it really well, i'd love to see you play it with other members of the yogscast as well. It'd be great to see how lydia, Chriss Trott or Simon would play it.

[@arcturuskaelar]

My dearest Tomothy, force every Yog to play this. Under threat of death, if you have to, or cookies? I don't know, do what feels more right at the time. Lewis' playthrough of this game was wonderful and I've paused this video at 2 minutes to write this comment because I know I'm going to love Mustachio Tom's story as well.

[@smadcore]

This channel is genuinely something I look forward to all week. Don't ever stop Tom.

[@SuperLuis225]

That ending was so tragically beautiful for being an immortal god like creature finally losing everything 😢

[@slayya87]

Really great job, guys! If you can capture peoples attention for so long with an RPG that's "just talking" for this amount of time, you might have some otherworldly powers. Oh, there's somone at the door, give me a ...*krrrrrk****zzzhhrrrrrk***

[@Mr.Grieves72]

I need more of this game. Tom I love your style of running these games. I would love to see some of the other people you’ve had on play this

[@hoathanatos6179]

I'm glad that they at least chose one of the oldest castles in England, which was built in 1068, two years after the Norman Conquest designed by William the Conqueror's chief architect, Gundolf. That's basically the only realistic thing they said about the period.

[@TheOctavian316]

I love Tom's "Don't Hug Me I'm Scared" shirt. What a wonderous listen.

[@tenebraebr]

Absolutely amazing story. Loved it from beginning to end. Tom and Tom, what a great duo.

[@itseddo]

loved the stream of tom and lewis playing this ages ago, this is gonna be a blast!

[@arcubal]

Absolutely brilliant in its tragedy! Well done, lads. My own Thousand Year Old Vampire started with a young girl in the Meso America jungles who became a mover and shaker in magics when the great Inca and Mayan empires bloomed, fled to Africa before the conquistadors destroyed her power base, met the love of her life, turned him, became a voodoo goddess before enslavement took her to America (where all things appear to end it seems...ha ha ha) where she moved through the revolution and civil war to become a sinister drug lord who met her end when an elite team of vampire hunters took her and her nest out. Coincidentally, I used her character as a main boss in the board game The Order of Vampire Hunters, the protagonists of which got turned by her minions and went on to continue (in a way) in another board game Vampire: the Masquerade - Chapters that came out last year. Good times when RPGs and board games blend together ;-)

[@Goomberdups]

Thousand year old vampire? A day early? Tommy b? You're goddamn right !

[@kyleskellett5804]

Love Tom Bates’ continuation of both being in cinema and contortion on this channel. Can’t wait to see what traits he adds to his communal character cv next.

[@ehecatlruiz349]

Love the Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared Shirt

[@rykero4368]

I would love it if Tom did this with like 3 more people and used those characters in a modern setting!

[@MrTuneslol]

I think it could genuinely be a fantastic idea to make a book of sort of proto-stories, or like pseudo-prompts like the sort of stories Tom does at the beginning of Mystery Quest videos for people to use for their own TTRPG's. Sure there's tons of potential stories which one could find, but the fact you can do games directly inspired or guided by our favorite bois could make it a special distinction from just default stories online or just coming up with your own. It'd be great to get a bunch of the Yogs to come up with their own too like Lewis Simon, Tommy B, Tom C, Hat films, Ravsy, Nina, Gee, HarryBarry, maybe sneak in some cheeky sips etc etc. Even if you just get a handful from everyone else and then Tom C could do the bulk of them? Either way I could see it going pretty well. They could make a sort of TTRPG pack with a set or two of special yogs dice, maybe some cards, a die table, maybe some basic TTRPG tiles to help build your own physical game maps or game space. Maybe make them modular to some degree so they can be infinitely useful. Potentially make it so you can just draw on them with temporary marker or something like that. 🤷‍♂️ idk there's probably all sorts of things like that which could be good additions to a pack like that. It'd also be reasonable to do like a Kickstarter type thing so they can judge the demand for stuff, you can make people's orders modular like maybe they want the die, the tower, but not the tiles etc etc etc. And presumably doing it through Kickstarter would make it much easier to get it all manufactured when the time comes.

[@VanBourner]

POPCOOOOOORN! . . . . . . I was hoping the new name would be Wendelin Goh lol. And that the crown would be the thing the Vampire hunters recognised

[@Aelux5216]

I was thinking it was odd to see Tom bates not grovelling at big Tom's feet but then he choose a peasant as a character lol

[@williamweir2280]

Went into this thinking “not sure” about solo rpg, came away thinking “more please”. Loved the collaborative storytelling

[@burnboy8148]

I like how Tom b made a nice innocent squire boy and then he immediately became an egoistical monster

[@pcharbs5815]

This is honestly good enough storytelling to be made into a short film or a series

[@dylanb3283]

Excited to see how this plays out. For anyone who might’ve missed it Tom played this Lewis on the Yogslive channel a while ago, I’d recommend watching it because I found it hilarious!

[@warrenshaw36]

Tom, I live for the intros. They are just the best

[@heli0ns]

What a strange coincidence. Earlier today I was watching a video essay on "Don't hug me, I'm scared" and here is Tom wearing a shirt of that. Small world.. of media enthusiasts.

[@k90001234]

I wasn't sure how a Solo RPG would translate into a video but you both made an incredibly entertaining story. Thoroughly enjoyed it, well done, some dark and heart wrenching moments in there all tidily concluded in one vid.

[@finleyjennings6051]

Well Tom's done it before so he knows how the format works.

[@k90001234]

@@finleyjennings6051 Yeah I later saw from other comments. Great stuff

[@Mahons]

Everytime Tom has done this I really love it, it is just really amazing and gets sometimes a bit wacky, so it seems really cool

[@Samboy64]

The adventures of Tom²

[@dgenaraition]

Tom you got a shout out in tim's most recently newsletter!!!!

[@dsungaripterus2600]

This is fantastic, I love this game and it's nice to have a standalone Mystery Quest every so often.

[@BanthaBoi]

That was awesome. The ending felt a bit breaking bad to me. That sort of deserved ending for the hero/villian. That was a good change of pace!

[@MrCunningham4]

Dumb idea: Game bash, Everyone is a Thousand Year Old John.

[@AberrantChibi]

But every one is Tom and _only_ Toms are allowed to participate. That ought to keep a lid on the sexyness / absolutely lunacy that prevented Tom from running a 'Everyone is Tom' scenario before.

[@MrCunningham4]

@@AberrantChibi That's a perverse idea, like Geri's Chess but it's just Tom GM-ing himself

[@AberrantChibi]

@@MrCunningham4Perhaps. Tom had already stated that he originally wanted to do a 'Everyone is Tom' scenario, instead of a 'Everyone is John' one, but thought better of it because of the schenanigans he would have to deal with (ie, the amount of "Tom does a naughty" or "Tom has an involuntary bowel movement" he would have to deal with). To my knowledge, there are a good number of Toms working at the Yogscast. By creating a group of Toms, there would hopefully be a sense of moderation in that regard. Also, I have only just realised that my addition would _only_ be needed if everyone was a thousand year old Tom, not if everyone is a thousand year old John. So, bit of a moot point. My apologizes for that. ... I guess I thought that having a group of five Toms arguing over what a thousand year old Tom would do would make for some interesting content and banter. But it may not be worth the hassle.

[@kathleenstrahm4291]

I’m so glad you guys did this! I had no clue that there were 1 person rpgs…I’m finding such variety through your channel, thanks!

[@electricmeatpuppet]

Y'know... these intros would make a FANTASTIC "Mystery Quest" book... not to mention a series of shows in their own right... something like tricube tales would be perfect for improv sessions of these...

[@OrangeDog20]

A lot of them are based on existing stories.

[@mzjalic324]

That was such a great game! I hope to see some more of it with some of the other guests from Mystery Quests past! Also, super enjoy Tom B when he’s on, he’s very fun

[@apedley]

I'm here. I'm the pedant you've been waiting for. Boy's didn't dance around the maypole. The virgin girls of the village would dance around the rather phallic symbol of a giant pole as a fertility ritual.

[@Jackman491]

Would love to see more Thousand Year Old Vampire. It's so good.

[@usnamunav]

we need a wine or cheese mystery quest NOW

[@ojomaze7777]

thousand year-old vampire is such a blast. I'd really like to see another one of these with another guest sometime

[@MrTuneslol]

I feel like Trott could be a good option, obviously Mark Humes is a given. Potentially Ravsy, maybe Lydia and Nina? So many good options. Hopefully this becomes a regular thing 😊

[@bendavies5953]

Western Roman Empire fell 476ce! Dark Ages (historians don't really use that term anymore, they prefer early Medieval period) was from then until roughly 1000ce

[@djinndusk4696]

Welllllllllllllll - in some circles, the medieval period can be divvied up to include the late medieval (ending somewhere between 1400 and 1500), with the whole thing effectively stretching until the renaissance in some people’s estimations, or at least the fall of Constantinople…

[@Hatypus]

@@djinndusk4696"Some circles" would refer to outdated circles. "Dark ages" was originally coined for the whole medieval period in the 1600s and 1700s, with the thinking that the people of the Dark Ages had all been violent idiots between the fall of Rome and the Rennaissance. However, as a greater understanding of the whole medieval period has developed, it's use has been generally restricted to the early medieval period, due to the often fragmentory historical records of the period, or not used at all. It's lingering use in reference to the entire medieval period is inaccurate and generally implies a stereotypical view of the period.

[@ZakJames]

Tom Bates is such good value on this channel.

[@caesarfromthemoon]

This was such a ride, ups and down. Laughs and heartbreak. It has it all

[@UKBurgers95]

I wish these tales could also be animated

[@Zelmel]

I love these sorts of structured narrative world/character-building games. It would be cool to see Tom and some friends do The Quiet Year or something similar.

[@doublepegleg9755]

"Love him, teutonically" Tom you sly dog.

[@ADorneofSwords]

This with Lydia would be amazing!!!

[@willowbarrelmaker8269]

I would love to see more of this with different folks. Just see how different the story might end up with different storytellers.

[@wesh3338]

fair chance youve read it already tom (c) but the way tom (b) referenced overawing the peasants by showing the wound that he could live with reminded me of the story "copping squid" a GREAT modern mythos tale

[@jamieheald5530]

Love this game! Thrilled to see our boy Tommy B guided through it. Mystery Quest is always a highlight of the week.

[@Psilocervine]

Oh this one was GREAT! I was a bit apprehensive about a solo game but this has been one of my favourite Mystery Quests so far

[@oreocreme3857]

Amazing! Made my day. Tommy B is such a creative person, best guest to have for this game.

[@sciencetyrant1538]

Now this is a top tier mystery quest!

[@MegaTombuscus]

I'd love to see Tom run through this with Ben

[@Bellerophon3]

I’m just going to pretend to forget everything I learned in my history degree while watching this.

[@thetimeplayer970]

The dm: your going to become a horrible vampire how everyone hates. Player: but like what if I was just sad and made everyone feel bad for me? Dm: you can't Player:... Dm: wait what no I said no.

[@CoreTendency]

Love the dual Tom energy

[@mitchellsigalas6013]

Awesome story! Tom(player) did fantastic. The twists and turns were both hilarious and at times quite sad/brutal. Another enjoyable video! Still requesting more Stu and more SWRPG!

[@MrZekoi]

This whole channel is an incredible achievement. I wait for and love every upload. Thanks and please continue to do what you do.

[@DirkVomEck]

This was fun, Toms everywhere! I would not mind more of this, great approach to playing a solo rpg with two people!

[@wacko031290]

This 100% needs to become a series with different guest stars. Absolutely love it!

[@ulexite]

Really loved this, would love to maybe see one or two more of these eps with another guest Yog.

[@spencerwilkie4218]

This is everything I want from a mystery quest video!

[@Selvunwindful]

That was aboslutely fantastic, couldn't stop watching. Thanks Toms!

[@5hadow5talker]

After Lewis' and Alex's run, and now this, what is with the yogs and having animals as their immortal/recurring companions? I love it