>the party I dm for is heading to a village to investigate a supposed serial killer >all the victims appear as if they've been attacked by a wild beast and all the victims were famillies with young children >there have been no newcomers in town, besides the party, for months and the guards are at a loss for suspects
So this is my idea: the killer is actually a vampire impersonating a little girl. She gains access to the houses by befriending the children and asking if "she can come over to play."
What clues or what things can I add to give this encounter/mystery some depth? Ive thought about the obvious stuff, like punctures in the skin (not necessarily the neck) that were caused by something with large canines. Any other ideas? Looking for inspiration more than being spoonfed wut do.
Give them a clear bite pattern with 28 teeth and a intercanine distance matched to a child of about the right age for your vampire and deep scratches with an offset matched to children's hands. Maybe signs of a struggle, with fabric from children's clothes under the nails of a victim.
Full exsangunation is unlikely, but the presence of less blood then should be present should be clear. You could have a detective notice lividity isn't consistent with a normal murder and that there are clear marks from blood being licked off the wound.
Children will talk. Especially about an odd child that likes grown up stuff, a 10 year old that remembers the LA Olympics and Regarding Henry stands out.
Carter Rogers
>Looking for inspiration Read Interview With the Vampire and pay specific attention to the parts involving Claudia.
Sebastian Davis
28 teeth with a 20mm intercanine distance and molars is a young human or Something Else. No other animal or age of human has that dental structure.
Austin Ortiz
>Read or watch
The movie is good and Kristen Dunst did a great job.
Bentley Sullivan
Read.
The only case in which the movie is arguably better is the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Jeremiah Martin
Also, Babette from Elder Scrolls.
Additionally, emphasize the animalistic quality of the attacks. Children can be vicious and brutal when they want to be, simply because they've little to no idea about consequences or empathy. A predatory vampire made from a child should still have some of that lurking at its core.
Landon Ward
Be prepared to have the answers for specific how questions. Like how did she turn into a vampire? How will the story change if a PC gets bit How can I incorporate vampire stereotypes from legends into the story
Joseph Green
>Didn't read LotR
Aaron Roberts
I suffered through all three of Tolkien's tomes of long-winded bullshit. The movies actually managed to make me care. It's the only case that has ever done so for me, and I've gotten my hopes up for a LOT of movie adaptations of good books.
Gabriel Young
>arguably better is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Your opinion is shit, user. I've never seen a movie that's better then either the books or video game it takes inspiration from.
Connor Kelly
> Princess Bride
Bae r u even trying
Juan Phillips
I actually cringed at your typing, user. Please stop typing in an afrocentric language, it makes you look stupid. Also, I did forget about the Princess Bride, so I'll give you the point. Stop talking like a niglet though
Jason Turner
Op here. Wow user. Gold stars. You know you're shit. Thank you.
Eh, Im not a big skyrim fan. I know of her from when I played but Id rather not use skyrim assets.
So Im thinking she always was a vampire. Her real form is a seductive lady, pic related but with ladyparts. Her first kill was a small girl who she polymorphed into and took her place in the family home. If my PCs get bit I want to dial down their vampire traits a bit, but still leave them stronger than they were before the bite. Im thinking the tradeoff will be they will be very limited during the day and will have to find some human food source. Next quest would probably be them trying to cure themselves.
Easton Ramirez
You better make the vampire smug.
Aiden Price
Making her "always" a vampire and making her real form a grown woman takes away most of the conflict about making her a little girl in the first place. If there's no (preferably founded) doubt about if it's really her fault or not, if she doesn't convincingly act like a child and if she's "not really a child", you take away the purpose of including a child villain and wrap it up in plot devices for the purpose of avoiding facing the players with a real choice. At that point, you could just as well make it a shapeshifter, because the polymorph element clashes or at least doesn't mesh with the vampire concept, and it'll just feel like you're trying to mislead the players through unintuitive plot devices. If you have a specific kind of villain besides the "mad scientist created a monster", it needs to be consistent with both reasonably common sense and in-setting logic, or you'll end up with a lackluster, confusing search for the villain that ends up being anticlimactic. It's gratuitous and red-herringy, so go the whole hog and face your players with a villain who's consistent and brings their own challenges to the mix. If anything, make her a child - a bratty, ill-mannered, vicious, ruthless, conniving child, but nevertheless a child. Make her logic either simple or contrived, make her worldview self-centered and give her a stubbornness born of ignorance - she simply never learned that you didn't kill people for food, her creator fucked her up and no one has outed her enough to lecture her. She might have the methods of a serial killer, but she's completely convinced, in that childishly stubborn manner, that she's just doing what she has to live. She'll be honestly mad or even miserable, not just villainously frustrated, when the PCs foil her plans, and she'll be both direct and vicious in her revenge. The more consistent she is, the easier she'll be for you to get into the head of.
Brody Thompson
I getcha user. Nothing's set in stone right now so I'll think about your post. Some things I should clarify: my game is a West Marches style game. So pretty much I give them a bulletin board and they decide what to do.
This isnt a big bad, just a monster that needs culling. Im not looking to make her sympathetic.
My thought process for having a lady vampire masquarade as a child to make hunting for prey easier. Who would suspect a little girl of such beastial carnage? She would be able to access homes easier under this disguise. Granted I could also just make her a skanky 20 something and probably have the same effect but Im going with the child route to give the players a moral dilemma. And not necessarily polymorph but I figure vampires can change forms so why not have some that can impersonate their victims.
Im also thinking of having her impersonating a child of an important figure for a cover. Maybe a mayor or inn keeper. The real child was the first victim who is buried in the vampires crypt to cover her tracks. Something the party can discover if they find it or if they "kill" the vamp and track her to her lair to finish her.
Mason Ross
...
Adam Campbell
Kid vampires you say? and I'm referring to Oskar
Owen Bennett
>literally bix nood: the post
Jaxon Allen
Brainlets get out
Kevin Harris
why is she sweating
Angel Ortiz
Probably something lewd
Samuel Adams
She's performing strenuous physical activity - confidently and with a smile, but still breaking sweat.
Carson Wood
Context?
Hudson Perry
The girl is a vampire who uses people to collect victims so she can feed, and when she eats her previous "servant" she finds a young boy who is clearly a developing sociopath and they become fast friends.
The movie is called "Let the right one in" and it's really good. Watch the swedish version not the shitty American remake.
Jonathan Evans
>girl
Samuel Walker
Yes, yes, true.
Leo Foster
keep yourself safe, pal
Dylan Williams
lol. forgot about this.
Andrew Phillips
Huh, I read the synopsis and am kinda sad I spoiled some things. Why is the amerifat one bad? Looks like it got decent reviews. I dunno what would be more difficult: a movie with swedes or a movie with that hamplanet chloe whatsername
