How would you revitalize the vampire theme in general?

I always liked the D vampires because they were more depressed scientists than anything else. Due to their age they knew about most of the lost technology but none of them really have the drive to do anything after seeing their civilization turn to dust around them.

What did you guys think about Blood and Wine's take on vampires. Sure, it was pretty traditional and tame but it felt nice playing it

...

The Strain?
Del Toro and one of his friends wrote a book trilogy on it, and then adapted it to TV series format, though it was always meant to be a TV series. IIRC they wrote the books first to prevent the producers from forcing them to stray too far from their vision for the series and keep rights on it 5ever, some shit of that kind.
Pretty good show too, imo.

There's nothing wrong with them as is

Did they ever explain the mutants in STALKER?

In my setting Vampires aren't really monsters or anything. They're just like normal people who raise animals to drink blood and live in harmony with others.

Lame.

In my one campaign i'm writing vampirism is more a method to power, not really a curse or affliction or even a kind of monster.

Hahaha!

Fuck that noise

I'd give them something like the joy mutant twist from the LISA series.

If they act out long enough, their bodies will twist and change to match their behavior. Lazy vampires that lure their prey in will become bloated and sedentary to reflect their slothful habits. Those prone to ripping apart their victims in a frenzy might twist around and become much like a cross between a weasel and a tree, long talons and teeth whipping about in a whirlwind of slaughter. Reversing the process is impossible but those vampires that achieve a balance between their lingering humanity and their predatory instincts might becomes something more...

Early catastrophic blow-outs+radiations.

I don't think so, but I always preferred to think of them as living anomalies.

If it makes you feel any better a bunch of radicals begin to purge them

>revitalize
Let's not reinvent the vampire. It's the reinvention that is the problem.
The most fun option, the way I see it, is to go back to the roots. I think there's a lot of fun sides to the vampire of the Polidori-Stoker period. It's not original, but I don't think originality is necessary to tell a good story.
But if you want originality, and there's good reasons why you'd want that, I'd also go back to the roots. Look at vampiric legends from other cultural spheres. Maybe mix it with revenant-creatures. Camazotz, haugbúi, obayifo are just some of the creatures you can look into.

>How would you revitalize the vampire theme in general?
Try making the protagonist a girl who. inexplicably falls in love with a vampire really a good guy.
I don't think anybody's tried that yet.
Alternatively, git gud.

>Is it even possible to create something memorable/original about them nowadays?
>Is it even possible to create something memorable/original about anything nowadays?
Memorable? Absolutely.
Original? No, never. Why even worry about it? Just create good characters and follow where they lead you.

>Or has the popular media killed it?
Not quite. It's undead in more ways than one.

>I accept pizza bribes
Never has a phrase in body me.

The Strain.
And Del Toro wrote it and directed it. That's why the vampires there are so similar to the ones in his Blade 2 film; originally was pitched as a film version of The Strain.

Tone down the sexy dark romance and lust, tone up the THESE GUYS ARE KILLING PEOPLE.

>Do what I do: just make them cute.

Are you zun?

>Try making the protagonist a girl who. inexplicably falls in love with a vampire really a good guy.

Ooh! And maybe she also loves a werewolf at the same time.

Original idea pls no steal.

I always liked the Dresden version of vampires. The ones that actually drink blood, I mean.

I wouldn't worry about being original or "revitalizing" a broad idea. I'd worry about getting good.

Long ago, vampires once managed to reach large enough numbers and used their organization and ties with the human world to push back all the other horrors that went bump in the night. In the medieval times, with the help of the great sorcerers of the age, they set up a great warding wall between the outside and the world of humanity... then proceeded to ruthlessly exterminate magical knowledge among humanity as well as the last remnants of the monstrom in this world.

Now they stand a constant vigil against the outer darkness, battling against the horrors from beyond to keep their home -- and food supply -- intact. All while balancing the concerns of this world against this war, so that humanity does not rediscover the lost knowledge of the past.

But it is not the past they should be worried about. Tirana Merclades, a minor vlad-factotum of the failing Merclades clan, has stumbled upon a dark conspiracy among human shadow organizations to dispose of their vampiric masters once and for all, and now wounded by an arcande rune-bullet is on the run from their technomagical warriors.

Shadows haunt her at every turn, as she finds the conspiracy runs deeper than she had ever believed possible, and the only person she might trust could be an old flame from her human life... if he isn't involved himself, that is....

10/10, The Dollars For This Endorsement Were Amazing -- Wall Street Journal

5 stars, they gave me cake -- GRR Martin

I shlicked to the vampire sex -- That bitch who wrote Twilight

Sadly no, I'm just some random faggot that likes cute. I will never have the combined hat and beer strength of one such as zun.

This is actually not bad. It would at least make a decent shadowrun campaign.

>How would you revitalize the vampire theme in general?
Make them monogamous.

Bam, done.

this is tabletop we cant see how cute your vampire is. and therefore don't care.

Legacy of Kain was never good

>winged vampires
Glad it died.

Even lamer.

>How would you revitalize the vampire theme in general?

Write a good story with good characters. Make at least one of them a vampire.

>Is it even possible to create something memorable/original about them nowadays?

Sure, see above.

>Or has the popular media killed it?

Nah, pop-media vampires just suck (pun intended) because they rely on vampires as a gimmick instead of writing good stories with good characters who happen to be vampires.

All i know is i dislike the counter-trend of portraying vampires as monsters of pure evil.

The conflict between their humanity and bloodthirsty urges is what makes them interesting. And sexy

Objectively shit taste detected

Dat dialogue.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=00efdE5CD7A

I really like the "monsters get your dirty claws off my food" vampire theme.
Wish people used it more.

Vampires worked great for 1800's writers because they meant sexual taboos.

In our culture there isn't really something like that anymore (the only possible execption to me is something like Let The Right One In).

There could be something more on the lines of "fear of death" but honestly I don't think it's gonna be easy.

Who or what is that in your image?

How about:
>World-ending apocalypse happened thousands of years ago
>Mankind has basically been knocked back to pre-electricity days, possibly even medieval days (obviously with more of a twist).
>There are immortal survivors from the Apocalypse, we can call them the Others for reference sake.
>The Others know what caused the Apocalypse but won't say. They are powerful and mysterious, befriending no one.
>They require sacrifices or they fuck up your village.
>Everyone fears them and no one has fucked with them in a long time.
>They require sacrifices once a month.
>One month, a village fucks with them.
>You find out their powers are both based on their vast knowledge of ancient tech and their own accumulated powers.
>The Others are immortal but require souls to keep living. Maybe make it aliens or some shit.
>They are the only ones who can use tech from this era since they've hoarded or destroyed the knowledge.
>Can I have my machine gun vampires now?

This is the internet and I GOT PITCHAS

>a bunch of radicals begin to purge them
As it should be.
The lamb does not live willingly with the wolf, nor the chicken with the fox. If vampires exist, humans would go to all lengths to stamp them out.

Well.... mutants, with anomalies and artifacts are products of C-Conscious failed experiment to achieve peaceful and perfect world (aka world domination) trough Noosphere control.

Blowouts are just residual instability of damaged noosphere (same like magnetic anomaly in Lost, it accumulates energy until there is need to release it).

The vampires just need to be the shepherd rather than the wolf.

They are a threat far more insidious then the fact they feed on human blood but on memories and emotions as well.

As beings devoid of life and a "soul" they cannont feel anything and only through feeding do they gain any sort of experience which is clearly not their own. People who survive such attacks are often described as "vacant" and withdrawn as people who would normally be bursting with life are suddenly solemn and many have trouble recounting even basic meories such as names or even stop feeling entire sensations (i.e. the warmth of the sun for example which is dangerous because they could get sunburned sitting outside and not feeling their skin burning).

It's often described as a fate worst then death and even more cruel when the offending vampire looks to you fondly with memories and emotions not of their own and clearly recognizable as the person they stole them from.

Do we need to? Vampires at the core are still cool.

They could certainly use some fresh blood.

The Knights of Saint Lazarus; an order of Christian vampires dedicated to fighting evil undead. They do not feed on human blood, but instead are sustained by receiving the Eucharist daily. If they skip these "meals" they grow hungry for mortal blood. If they succumb to that temptation they risk falling to the curse and losing their immortal souls.

Our protagonist is an aimless millennial who was seduced and devoured by a girl who looked to good to be true (and was). She left his drained corpse in an alley, and that's where the Order of the Empty Crypt found him. He awoke 4 days later to the sound of a priest reading from John 11:38-44. Now this ill disciplined young man must learn to control his unnatural hunger while fighting the walking dead. He doesn't know if he believes in God, but he knows that he risks losing his mind if he doesn't go to church every day.

The chick who drained him becomes a recurring villain (pic related).

...

Do vampires fall in love Veeky Forums?

D vampires are awesome because you can clearly see their humanity has given up on life and it's only the monster within forcing them to keep killing to survive.

Make them superhero vigilantes who think that immortality and all the other superpowers are cool as shit. They get past all the antiquated rules (can't go into houses uninvited) by just feeding on criminals. Thus, they are effectively only present in large cities with smaller towns completely free of them.

If the Vamp were the shepherd, that would make the humans the sheep. I don't know about you, but I fancy myself better than cattle.
I see no peaceful middle ground of shared existence.

It's simple. As part of your obligation you are meant to maintain a healthy life-style and donate once a month. Only through the excuse of a medical doctor are you not required to give blood, in which case if the government ran health-care system cannot get you back on track then talks come into play to find some other means to pay your dues to society.

After all, the vampires are there to protect you and you are not "cattle" you are Citizens

We could make them sparkly?

You already are cattle, it's just your cage is made of little green bills rather than tooth and claw.

Please do tell what benefit the parasites are providing in return for these "donations"?

>You already are cattle, it's just your cage is made of little green bills
Not so much cattle, as indentured servants. But I'll concede the point.

>Please do tell what benefit the parasites are providing in return for these "donations"?

Don't you realize that it's essential that our protectors , not parasites thank you very much, need the strength to keep our society safe and running?

The fact that you can go out in the park with your children and know for a fact that you are both safe and free from the machination of "Those who exist beyond the Gates".

Requiem Chevalier Vampire

A "young adult urban fantasy" series I read many years ago had an interesting take on vampires. The setting was one of those "what if every myth was true" deals, so there was all kinds of magic, ancient gods, immortal humans, crazy monsters, etc. running around with two "normal" kids (a brother and sister) caught in the middle of it all because >muh prophecy.

Anyway, Vampires in this setting don't feed on blood, what they actually feed on is emotions and the life-force that accompanies them. As such their own emotions are very limited and faint. They have all the normal vampire powers (don't need to eat/sleep/breath, basically unkillable, immortal, stronger/faster than humans, etc.) but they aren't undead, and if they're well-fed and haven't gone feral then they don't have to fear sunlight and they look the same as normal humans (aside from not breathing and having no pulse). They even have to abide by the old "must be invited to come inside a house" rule, which there's some in-setting explanation for.

Vampires that don't control their hunger sort of devolve and become more bestial. These vampires DO drink blood as it provides them with more direct access to the life energy that they crave.

All of this is detailed because the main characters are travelling with one of these Vampires, a petite red-headed woman who's almost always eerily calm and cheerful. She's friends with the kids' mentor (an immortal mage) and acts as the muscle for the group early on because she's old as hell and incredibly dangerous in a fight. High points include beating the piss out of a whole squad of GIGN troopers when the party was in France as well as repeatedly surviving things everyone else assumed had killed her.

>Requiem Chevalier Vampire
My nigga.
It's a shame there aren't more comics out there that delve deeper into the world surronding it and all the races involved with each crime.

Remove all the sexual motifs and allusions, to begin with. That's the Tolkien of vampires. It was once good and original but got plagiarized so often now it's just old and tired, except it has fermented for several times more than Tolkien

Remove all aristocracy motifs as well. If whar you're writing starts to sound too much like generic zombies, remove that as well. That's pretty much it.

>You already are cattle, it's just your cage is made of little green bills

fuck off communist bastard

I like that.

>10/10, The Dollars For This Endorsement Were Amazing -- Wall Street Journal
>5 stars, they gave me cake -- GRR Martin
>I shlicked to the vampire sex -- That bitch who wrote Twilight
lol

Dame fine childrens book. Heres the books if anyone wants a good read. The authors really good.

>my half assed description was good enough for someone to know what I'm talking about
Neat.

I feel like I should go back and finish those. Only the first three were out when I read them and by the time the fourth had released I'd moved on.

Would you prefer being told that your cage is made of bud bear cans and political talking heads? So afraid that foreigners and poor people are going to take your tv that a few people disappearing doesn't make you flinch?

I do not believe everyone desserves to be equal but I'd prefer a vampire world where your worth is measured by being more useful than just a snack, than the current hooknose world where you worth is always zero unless you're born into a handfull of families.

Shove your fascist "communism" and your oligarch "capitalism" up your ass.

Fucking this. RCV was a thing of beauty in so many ways, having vampires as simply purified evil was brilliant.

Alright, Veeky Forums, how would you handle vampire romance? I'm running a game where one player is really into that concept but I don't know how to even approach it without it being cliche.

Any ideas?

Well, what are your vampires like?

Assuming normal vampires, you could do something where one member of a couple gets turned and the other sticks with them out of love, letting their partner feed on them periodically so they don't have to hunt others.

They like to rub their cold, dead bodies on human bodies to feel the warmth once again, but aside from that treat humans like pets.

Absolute, uncontrollable obsession.
Read Misey.
Make them resent their fetish.

Return them to old-school Bram Stocker Dracula-tier of badass and ramp them up to show everyone their status as true lords of the undead.

Make them from total dicks to dicks with standards, but never try to make them not dickish.

At least the ones in Warhammer Fantasy are still badass. Blood Dragons especially.

It really bugs me when they draw tears falling from the eyes away from the tear ducts.
Even if she was crying so much they would fall from the middle like that, she'd still have them falling from the tear ducts.

fuckers wrote a book just so they can make the developers fuck off? Thats dedication right there

This, this and this again. Vampires in FB be best vampire.

Why would you want to make something original? The reason vampires got popular in the first place was the way they were originally. Just play back to that trope. They're lords of the night and hunters of men.

The problem with people these days is that they always want to have something new and original, and think something is bad because it isn't original. Newsflash, the tropes exist for a reason. People LIKE them. Just write them well. That's all you need.

The entirety of the story is basically pure misery for the players, I want the vampire to play a heartwarming role in it with a bittersweet end.

Vamps are pretty traditional here, except the one in focus is old as fuck so his attention is centered on emotions rather than blood.

If it changes anything, the player is female, vampire is male

Claudia : Chevalier Vampire, m8.

I'm running a scion game and one of the PC's girlfriend was turned into a vampire by Alucard more or less.

So now we got the child of Zeus dating a young vampire whose extremely powerful by vampire standards.

>Why would you want to make something original?
Because it's fun.

Are you talking about human/vampire romance or vampire/vampire romance?

Dunno how to revitalize something undead, but I've always wanted to see the hunter become the hunted.
>Vampires get discovered
>Gets hunted down, Rainbow 6-style at first
>Someone does some shit with vampires
>Discovers lots of shit about them
>Vampire blood has properties so miraculous it might as well be nanomachines son or Tiberium
>Vampire blood becomes humanity's energy source
>They get hunted down even more mercilessly and converted to resources
>Wars are fought over control of this precious resource
>New materials and technologies are formed thanks to their systematic slaughter and experimentation

>That pic.
>Reminded that there will never be any Tyberium.
>Reminded that the crazy adventures of Ricardo Vega will never be a thing.
>Reminded that there will never be a sexy Nod Priestess.

Human/Vampire

...

It hurts. It still hurts.

I miss C&C. Dammit EA. How much more will you torment us?

>Is it even possible to create something memorable/original about them nowadays?
That's an easy question, the answer is of course yes. The term "vampire" comes with a specific "baggage" though and deviation from that particular "baggage" may not be positive.

Don't make them anything like what you see in popular media. Don't get obsessed with doing something 'original' either; there's nothing you could ever think of that wasn't never done by someone else before somewhere in the innumerable thousands of years that humans have been around before you. Just don't do the shit that's obvious and from recent movies.

>having vampires as simply purified evil was brilliant.
It really was, made them into some evil badasses. And their whole aesthetic was great looking.
>Claudia : Chevalier Vampire
She got her own spinoff or something? Well hell, thanks for the information user.

Not that I'm complaining. I'd read the shit out of that.