Vampire Lore: Avoiding Common Mistakes with Jason Carl

[@jsjoyner85]

I'm a simple man--I see Jason Carl in a video, I click it.

[@d1j16]

First!! Excellent points, especially on vamps often being made into cardboard cutouts instead of fully developed characters. Also, What We Do in the Shadows was a wonderful riff on "What if the vampire was an idiot?". It isn't as if they get smarter from being immortal. ;)

[@Therian13]

What We Do in the Shadows feels more like a sessions where the players just keep botching every damn roll they make.

[@d1j16]

@@Therian13 That is a great description!

[@CapnAlces]

Are they ALLERGIC... to STOP SIGNS. This may be the best question I have EVER heard about a monster. If I could applaud for a week straight, I would.

[@The_Broddha]

A fantastic subject relevant to my ongoing world project! It feels almost common sense but even then it's easy to forget and make missteps in cliches that dilute vampires. The nice thing is this can be framed into working out various other species and how they can fall short by making mistakes that run parallel in them, like all werewolves are either nature worshipping hardcore anarcho-primitivists or nomadic biker gangs

[@BonnieDragonKat]

Wow this is awesome to see you doing this jason! This is Bonnie from Canada at midnight. Thank you for being the one to step up to do this.

[@WorldAnvil]

You bet!

[@walterstarr1588]

The best vampires I've ever read about in novels were Brian Lumley's Wamphyri in the Necroscope series. I was ruined for all other vampire stories after reading those novels.

[@charley2070]

Give the world of darkness more love in world anvil ❤

[@avollant]

Palladium Books the Rifts setting are interesting (edit: Vampires I meant)

[@badnewsBH]

They are, but the alien intelligence thing seems tacked on to me. Supernatural was good enough.

[@avollant]

@@badnewsBH Like in any RPG, I take some and leave some... I love the mexico part and sometime, wonder if Dusk 'till Dawn was not a reference to it... not just a coincidence.

[@DavidMacDowellBlue]

I am approaching my vampires in terms of a kind of cosmic mythology. First, the universe can be seen in terms of Light and Dark, which are two qualities rather than value judgments. Adherents and aspects of either can be kind or cruel, honest or deceitful, humble or vain, calm or full of wrath, etc. And everything in the universe contains both, even though organized religion has taught a different lessen (mostly). Vampires are born out of the dark, and so anything connected to the light in some sense offers danger. Sunlight is blinding, and can even do harm--but cloudy days offer plenty of protection generally. Like all living things, vampires are sustained by consuming life but the magical spell that allows them to remain alive demands they do so in the form of human blood. This does not mean they need drain or kill anyone--although some obviously do. The liquid itself is secondary at best. Vampires need the life the blood contains, which is why feeding is euphoric, but the psychic (two way) bond created between vampire and victim means the latter feels the same euphoria! Which can be terrifying, addictive, etc. Likewise holy relics of any deity associated with light or fire is painful and/or weakening, but to work best the relic needs to be wielded by someone of genuine faith in the Light. If you're only pretending, a strong vampire can overcome that (with effort). But only genuine faith can imbue "ordinary" objects like books or talismans with such power. Since vampire are the creation of magical spells (essentially theurgy from Dark--but not necessarily evil--Deities) they can only make more vampires by copying the original spell. This takes some time, about a month (tied in with the cycles of the moon), and if you make a mistake the process fails. No one knows who cast this spell originally. Vampires can be killed via massive trauma to the body, such as burning to death or dismemberment (beheading for example). Given when at their peak strength they are as strong and as fast as a human being can POSSIBLY be (maybe a little more--think Captain America) this is not easy. If they do not feed regularly, they weaken and this can resemble aging. They do not take damage the same way a human being does. If shot in a major organ, to give one possibility, they might well be able to function for a time until healing takes place (which would be aided by feeding). A vampire at their peak would find a flaming arrow through the heart almost crippling but they could probably pull it out and fight back for a little while. Most vampires develop a kind of instinctive theurgy because of their connection to dark magic. This varies a great deal, and is not related to the more hyperhuman abilities such as enhanced senses or the mutation of some teeth into slightly longer, sharper versions in order to feed. While legends speak of vampire who can transform into wolves or command weather or make all the animals obey them, nobody had ever met a vampire capable of this. Making ones self seemingly invisible (like Douglas Adams' "somebody else's problem field'), sensing some aspect of the future, reading auras, or assuming a powerful presence usually via the voice (think Saruman in LOTR) but maybe their eyes or via a dance or a musical instrument--these are relatively ordinary (but hardly any vampires show more than one such). But they are also very few and far between. In a world with a population of over five billion vampires number less than a hundred thousand, if that.

[@thiagom8478]

One generic issue I have with supernatural species in most stories, particullarly the "evil" fellows. That applies too often to vampires. Is that authors seem unable to decide if they are people or wild animals. In theory they are people, they tall, dress fancy, etc, but the moment a fight starts they start acting like some feral beast. Ignoring weapons, using claws and exposing themselves to deedless risk. Is curious, because Vampire the Masquerade is one of the most popular tabletop RPGs from the age of Tabletops RPGs. And the moment you put a vampire character in the hands of a player you see that they very obviously DON'T act like movie vampires. Yes, they use guns against humans. YES, they take cover, use armour if they have access to it and occasion asks for it! To make a long story short vampire PCs act like people would act if they where given the vampiric portfolio of strengths, weaknesses, and need. But when the vampire is the antagonist, for some reason, he or she turns into it in combat. And it must use claws every time!! If vampires in a given setting lose their rational mind and became feral beasts under given circumstances, that's fine. I have no complains. That's usually not the case, usually the vampires just act like mindless beasts as a plot-armour mechanism to make the human hero viable in a setting where vampires acting with some (any!) level or intelligence would have no chance to lose. There is "Evil" and there is "irrational", they are not two different worlds for the same concept. As far as I understand your idiom. Ignore basic self-preservation like most fictional vampires often do is not "arrogance" or being "Evil". Is purely irrational. If vampire character happens to be a suicide. that's another matter entirely. Of course. That is perfectly fine. However, again, usually that is not the case.

[@marcusblacknell-andrews1783]

For my world, I’d prefer to add depth to a vampire’s personality. For example, what if Vampires formed a Guild and waged war against a Guild of Werewolves?

[@WorldAnvil]

That's a great approach!

[@josephmanno4514]

For me, I immediately lose interest in a vampire story if they are not what I consider proper and traditional. Most fundamental to that, for me, is, despite how obscenely powerful some may be (and I have no quarrel with that at all), they are still vulnerable to the authority of The Church, whose might derives from God Almighty. Otherwise, in my mind, a door snaps shut, and I immediately dismiss them as "not real vampires." I didn't appreciate those carefully not being mentioned above.

[@WorldAnvil]

You usually can't go wrong with traditional vampires, but there's so much more to explore about the concept!

[@IIARROWS]

Most importantly: don't make your vampire sparkle under sunlight. EDIT: unless they do that for a brief moment as they get incinerated.

[@WorldAnvil]

*this is the skin of a killer Bella*

[@joesmith-t2z]

Barbara Hambly wrote a couple of very good vampire stories set in 19th c England. In one of them, some kind of monster was preying on vampires and they enlisted a sort of sherlock holms X james bond mortal to save them.

[@WorldAnvil]

We'll have to check that out. Thanks!