Thread 96428273

Vampire Edition

Tell 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, toomuchhorrorfiction

Other News:
"The Sutra of Pale Leaves: Carcosa Manifest" coming later this year
https://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 Kuttner
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76108

Questions 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:
>>96389557

Please 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.

>>96428273 (OP)
There should be more body horror with vampires. It's boring to always see them depicted in stuff as looking like normal people.

>>96428273 (OP)
>>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?

>>96428471
I 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.

>>96428471
We had a vampire worldbuilding project going on way back when. Wonder what happened to that.

>>96428273 (OP)
>>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.

>>96428471
Fits 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 (OP)
>>96428471
Star 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 (OP)
>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.

>>96428273 (OP)
More 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.

Yiffe

>>96428273 (OP)
>Vampires

>>96429170
I 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.

>>96431693
30DoN 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 (OP)
>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 (OP)
>An African Vampire Hunter is about to pounce on his prey, an Asanbosam before it makes a meal out of it's next victim.

>>96394809
I 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
>>96429664
Shamelessly stealing all of these. Thanks for posting, anon.

fhtagn

>>96429646
>>96429650
>>96429658
>>96429664
Kinda 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 terrible

Kind of a mess of a campaign. What were they thinking? The two halves of the book are totally disconnected.

>>96428471
i 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 them

sick 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?

>>96436067
Now that's a spooky vampire.

Dinosaurs should be used more in horror.

>>96428273 (OP)
Oh 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.

>>96441871
To 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
>>96441899
Feels like you could have simply used another system's ship generation procedure/premade ships instead of actually taking anything in either Mothership edition seriously.

>>96442038
Would you happen to have any recommendations? Believe me, at this rate I'm very open to it.

>>96442093
Yeah, 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
>>96441899
Both 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.

>>96442215
Yeah, 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

>>96443754
Man that's a cool design.

>>96428273 (OP)
>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.

>>96428471
Exactly. The mythical vampire wasn't sexy in a Twilight way or a Dracula way. It was a disgusting, bloated rotting corpse.

>>96448243

Depends on what you call "mythical vampire". Hellenistic lamias were deadly sexy and they are at least entwined with the modern vampire.

>>96428273 (OP)
>>96428471
What do you guys think about the SCP Foundation take on vampires? There is more body horror involved.
https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2191

>>96436067
Look's like Scorn's parasite which is indeed very "neural" (though overall visceral) in its approach.

>>96440118
Natural necromancy fodder which segues nicely into dragons + reptilians + K/T extinction as mass sacrifice schizophrenia.

>>96447361
Indeed. Looks like it's a style-change away from being some heraldic beast.

>>96448243
iirc 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).

>>96453443
Thank 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?

>>96443754
Reminds 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

>>96453517
Study 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).

>>96456614
looking good so far

What are the best dark fantasy settings? Recommend me some, I would like to read some lore for inspiration. I really like the aesthetics of Symbaroum and Dragon Age. And I really like Warhammer Fantasy Battles, The Witcher and ASOIAF as generic fantasy settings (pseudo-European themes there).

>>96458767
Berserk by Kentaro Miura

>The King of Oozes treasures dearly the gifts of his friends... As well as the bones of his enemies.
https://x.com/poweredbygif/status/1933560289351344597

>>96458767

Dark fantasy is an empty moniker, but try something like Lee's Tales of the Flat Earth for something that is not about killing and shit.

(which is fine but pretty boring after a while)

>>96458980
I have read the manga.

>>96459239
I want some RPG setting, not novels. Like "Shadow of the Demon Lord" (but I don't like its art style), etc. Maybe some pseudo-medieval horror fantasy? WoD has Dark Ages, for example, but I don't know how much horror is there.

>>96459311

I see. Dunno, I prefer going full horror in the hobby.

>>96459365
The best (tabletop) (pseudo-)medieval horror setting then?

>>96458767
Try Memento Mori.

I've been reading the SoPL and honestly I sort of enjoy this depiction of the King in Yellow.
Literally living in the heads of eveyone who has touched this version of his infection vector. He does not exist on the material plane as he is a foreign consciousness that is tapped into every mind that has been exposed to the Sutra. The cult deepens that connection until it's practically impossible to differentiate your will and actions from those of the Prince of Pale Leaves. The Prince cares for humanity in his own way, opposes the influence of other outer gods and his ultimate goal does involve the retention of Humanity in a recognizable state but ultimately completely subservient and all a part of a greater will moving all of them to reshape the world into a new Carcosa. I can actually understand why people would work for this cult and how they're so widespread as a lot of the book is dedicated to explaining the front of the cult as a charity and social wellness organization and even gives examples of when they would collaborate with investigators to stop a common enemy.

>>96459393
You could check out Cthulhu Dark Ages. Or, if you're interested in OSR stuff, Lamentations of the Flame Princess. The default setting for that game is the Thirty Years War which is criminally underutilized in tabletop.

>>96462241
Thanks. "Veins of the Earth" and "Frostbitten and Mutilated" have some potential too.

>>96459311
Uh....
The warhammer fantasy roleplaying game I guess?

>>96463395
It has the same lore as in Warhammer FB.

"Nightfell" also seems to be a promising setting.

>>96463927
>It has the same lore as in Warhammer FB
Yeah
There was nothing in your post that implied you didn't like Warhammer FB lore.

>>96463967
I am a retard who didn't read the post chain properly, don't mind me.

>>96463972
Ok.

Another question: what are the best cults in tabletop settings and which settings do them best? I suppose Call of Cthulhu is one of the answers. I really like "Last days" novel by Adam Nevill and his take on cults.

>>96429646
>reduced weakness to silver and wolfsbane
>no vampiric weaknesses
>vampiric poison?
anon, that's just a super mary-sue hybrid monster. that shit wouldn't fly at any table, whether it be from a player or a GM, player would hate to deal with that shit and for GMs,it'd be a nightmare to balance for.
also, poison is defensive, as in coming from quills or a substance on the skin of an animal,Venom is the stuff that's injected through bite or occasionally spat by some animals.

>>96462966
Some of those supplements are incredibly difficult to find for a decent price anymore. Thankful for PDFs, at least.

>>96428273 (OP)
How to run games in A Quiet Place setting?

I'm going to run The Dare at a Halloween party.

Anyone else doing anything special for spooky season?

>>96464221
Force the players to use sign language and kill anyone who farts at the table.

>>96464221
Just watch the movies and follow the examples. Maybe put up a decibel reader and penalize anyone that goes over a threshold

>>96464221
>A Quiet Place setting
Does anyone find that the movie had good a premise in the beginning, but really fucked it up in the end and makes the whole world look stupid.
Really no one thought to use a sonic-based weapon on creatures whose only mode of perception was hearing? Especially that the said weapon is like made from common radio-parts and a hearing aid? Also I thought that the world ended in 1980-ish, but the sequel had smart phones so I guess not...

>>96464405
Damn anon it's still 2 month-ish away, you're getting prepared.

>>96467022
These are the same guys that somehow never discovered that loud ambient noises create safe spaces. I imagine that would have been discovered very early on, just like you say. But honestly we're not supposed to think that way like with most monster movies. They just show up one day and destroyed the entire world. That'st he axiom axiom we have to accept here

>>96467022

I want it to be a two month affair like Christmas is.

Also trying to get my friends to celebrate Walpurgis Night so we can have a 2nd Halloween each Spring.

So /tg/ I did two games with different settings and systems, but using the same ideas. They were Delta Green and Chronicles of Darkess (which we later changed to Hunter the Vigil and Vampire).

The concept was to make a chronicle inspired by Twin Peaks but using that "Mandela Effect" conspiracy theory. I'll try to summarize months of sessions. The players had to go to a small town in Maine called Honeyville and discover who killed the daughter of the CEO of a mega-corporation. They discover that not only does a cult that worships a spiritual creature with Lovecratian elements, called "Mr. Nobody," control the town, but also the corporation (something like Pentex from Werewolf: The Apocalypse).
The cult is having a "civil war," and one of the factions sacrificed the CEO's daughter without the approval of all the members.

Where does the Mandela Effect come in?

Well, both players and cultists learn to enter a shadow world, a temporary reality far less detailed than ours, but similar to the Umbra or the otherworld in Silent Hill. Every time someone enters this world and interacts with anything there (even opening a door counts), it affects our reality. The world's history changes, people disappear or are replaced, and the memories of those who didn't enter this world also change. People who manage to enter this world are called "jumpers."

So, both players and NPCs caused changes and only realized it when it was too late. It was amusing to see the confused faces every time they returned to town and realized something had changed.
In the end, the players prevented the cult from sacrificing an albino girl with Rh-null blood, the rarest blood type in the world. The ritual would have made the spirit become a full-fledged god.

Oh yeah, and the NPC that summoned the player characters was basically David Lynch, so I had to constantly imitate him.

>>96470197

Tell me he was there just listening to Rammstein.

>>96470197
Sounds like a great time anon. Wish I could get people to run a game like that.

>>96448243
I don't mind the occasional sexy vampire that looks like Vampirella.

alright, finally going to run that straya adventure

>plane crashes in the outback
>players are the survivors, with 2 NPCs to act as sign posts to bring up looking for shelter or get a radio working
>plane crashed near a billabong and if they try to drink from it, they notice something stirring at the bottom
>if they stay at the crash site and wait for rescue, the siege starts when one of those NPCs is dragged away and eaten by a bunyip in the middle of the night
>if the players move away from the crash siter, they eventually find an abandoned house, with signs of a struggle and drag marks leading to a nearby billabong
>the house is a more defensible position, but rescue wont find them unless they take active measures to call for help
>scenario ends with the bunyip jumping back into the billabong when a rescue posse arrive