Vampire movies, powers, themes, and my Nicolas Cage resentment...

[Snarky]

Some of you may have noticed I like the Dark powersets.  Some may think I am a bit fixated on Vampires. Others just think I suck.  Whatever.

 

First, I wonder how long it will take for this thread to be categorized.  And Moved (read killed and buried) So appropriate for a Vampire thread....

 

Second, why do I resent Nicolas Cage.  As is true with so many actors who will not quit (great, good, mediocre, and truly horrid) The more I see them the more I like things about them.  The same is true for Nicolas Cage.  He has done some fun work.  But near the beginning of me discovering Nicolas.... he crapped all over the Vampire cinematic experience.   Then lit it on fire and kicked it towards the audience.  Not entirely his fault, the man will act in ANYTHING except possibly pron.  You got a script, a camera and a few dollars and Nicolas is in. He would probably do it without the script if you had the cash.  Vampire's Kiss 1988.  I will watch any (every) Vampire film, finding things to like in each and every one.  But not Vampire's Kiss......because there is never a single F-ing Vampire....   GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrr O F really? I wasted all that time.  Okay, the movie Priest had Vampires and my friends and I left the theatre feeling like we had been collectively robbed of 2 hours of our lives.  But no Vampire?  Really?  Arrrrrghhhgrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Hrmph.

 

Third, Nicolas is going to be in Renfield, as Dracula.  The movie will explore the codependent relationship of said ghoul and vampire master.  Rumor is that it is good.

 

Fourth, you are saying wait.... What does this have to do with....   Morbius is out!  Vampires are big again!  (When were they not)  Vampires have .....SUPER powers.  Who do you think uses all those Dark powersets?

 

So, How would you write up Dracula?  My main (who I am sloooooowlllly writing a book about) is a Vampire that I have rolled as a Dark/Dark Brute and a Dark/Invul Brute.  Honestly I think the Dark/Dark is closer but the Dark/Invul Tanks a lot better (in my opinion) and a Brute needs to be able to slip into that role if you are on it a lot.  

[Ghost]

Do what

[InvaderStych]

 

You're Welcome.

[battlewraith]

When I think of vampires, I generally think of Tobe Hooper's version of Salem's Lot. The vampire is a sort of physical ghost. It's not that they're bullet proof, for example. It's that they aren't real in the sense that bullets meaningfully interact with them--like shooting a mirage. Intellectually, the typical vampire is a sort of parody of the person they were when they were alive. So children will immediately seek to turn their parents. A lover will obsessively track down their partner in order to feast on them. The master is a collection of cultured obsessions, with things like art, wealth, status, etc. All of which is a facade covering the instinct to ruin the natural order.

[Yomo Kimyata]

I feel that this image is a face swap of Travolta and Cage a la Face/Off, except it's on one person.

 

Spoiler

 

[oedipus_tex]

Are you asking for powerset recommendations?

 

The power Drain Psyche in the Psionic Assault/Manipulation set gives off pretty strong vampire vibes. Psi players need to feed on enemies to survive.

 

The power Soul Drain in the Defender/Corruptor APPs is a tight match to the concept as well, but provides +Damage instead of Regen.

 

I suppose Willpower has similar abilities on a smaller scale.

 

An Electric/Psi Dominator is the vampiric build IMO, although a lot of people probably don't associate Electricity with the type of vampire you're talking about. Mind Control could be a reasonable facsimile.

 

There was a person on Ourodev (not Homecoming) who I believe was making a Vampire archetype. I'm not sure what the status of that is or any details about it all, just remember chatting briefly about the work being done.

Edited March 26, 2022 by oedipus_tex

[biostem]

A lot really depends upon the particular lore/mythos we're going with.  You have a bit of mind control, you have some enhanced physical abilities, you have some control over lesser creatures, and so on.  Them you could basically just go for something like how Alucard is depicted in the Castlevania animated series, (though technically he's a Dhampyr), but his use of swords, speed, and the occasional flash-step or fireball could easily be realized as well.  Also, and this is just me being pedantic, but I don't consider someone who has been transformed by some serum or lab accident to be a vampire...

Edited March 26, 2022 by biostem

[Clave Dark 5]

Which vampire, the classic Drac?  The Lugosi or the book version?  Like endless iterations of comic book characters*, Drac's been done so often it really helps to throw in some wild cards or to rethink the premise, imho (not that I'm a fan of the pointless rebooting comics though), working from the bottom up or doing a twist on one of the basics like "sunlight doesn't kill him, just leaves his powers much diminished."

 

*"Come see what the newly re-re-rebooted Batman's powers are, now he can summon bats or something!"

[Spaghetti Betty]

If you're talking about trying to fit some odd powerset combo into a vampire theme, I'd say the sky's the limit. Vampires are everywhere in all kinds of fiction doing crazy stuff. I can think of an example of one that gets decapitated, but lives anyway, kills his brother on a sinking boat, possesses his body, and returns with control over a spiritual entity that has the ability to stop time. And then some stuff happens in Egypt.

 

Personally, I'm not huge into vampires, but I think I would mess with a BS/Dark Scrapper or Brute, take the Sorcery pool and some offensive-leaning Epic pool to signify a mastery over a variety of magic. That might be pretty fun. Lots of elements coming together.

 

I'm gonna go think of a toon name now.

[Six-Six]

Dark/Savage Dominator would also fit the bill nicely. I choose Dark over Mind because the tool sets have a more nefarious theme to them. Then you got the Umbra Beast hellhound and savage's the control over birds and bees. You can add Psionic Mastery for some thematic animation of Mental Blast and Psi Tornado... I would've gone with Soul Mastery, but doms don't get the tentacles and Soul Storm (which IMO is the best animation for a hold in the entire game). a power named Blood Craze is just icing on the top.

[Clave Dark 5]

4 hours ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

If you're talking about trying to fit some odd powerset combo into a vampire theme, I'd say the sky's the limit. Vampires are everywhere in all kinds of fiction doing crazy stuff. I can think of an example of one that gets decapitated, but lives anyway, kills his brother on a sinking boat, possesses his body, and returns with control over a spiritual entity that has the ability to stop time. And then some stuff happens in Egypt.

 

Personally, I'm not huge into vampires, but I think I would mess with a BS/Dark Scrapper or Brute, take the Sorcery pool and some offensive-leaning Epic pool to signify a mastery over a variety of magic. That might be pretty fun. Lots of elements coming together.

 

I'm gonna go think of a toon name now.

"Drac Scrapper"

 

Don't get up, I'll see myself out.

[The_Warpact]

Well if you go the route of the Midnight Mass "angel" he was nothing more than a Savage/Dark brute IMHO. 

You have the mystical elegant vampire aka Dracula/Edward Cullen and the feral animal vampire aka 30 Days of Night. The demi god like status of Dracula Untold and the base animal in Midnight Mass.

 

I think its open to interpretation just like the myths of the world concerning vampires. Some must drink the blood from a cup and others are cannibalistic. Its your "mythology " so write it how you want, personally I never would have went Dark/, but, that's just me.

 

Hell you could go Katana or Dual Pistols think of the vampires in Blade or Near Dark, they used weapons mostly and vampirism was just second nature.

 

Or the elephant in the room a Stalker, literally Kolchak, The Night Stalker had the ole sneaky kind.

 

Plus, with "sparkly" aura effect you could roll out your Twilight fantasies, and I'll leave it at that.

 

P.S. you do know that ole Nicky Cage WAS a vampire in Vampires Kiss, if you hadn't noticed these days you can get away with saying you're anything you want. So yes Snark mental illness of your "vampire" might be another route.

[UltraAlt]

Presence - Fears and placate + unrelenting (rise from the grave!)

Concealment - Stealth, placate + phase shift (go noncorporeal)

Dark powers? Sure

Go Gangrel with Savage Melee. (someone around here wrote the book on it)

[MrAxe]

Watched an interview recently where he debunked the whole 'stars in anything' myth. Apparently there's plenty he turns down.

[Snarky]

58 minutes ago, The_Warpact said:

 

Or the elephant in the room a Stalker, literally Kolchak, The Night Stalker had the ole sneaky kind.

 

Plus, with "sparkly" aura effect you could roll out your Twilight fantasies, and I'll leave it at that.

 

P.S. you do know that ole Nicky Cage WAS a vampire in Vampires Kiss, if you hadn't noticed these days you can get away with saying you're anything you want. So yes Snark mental illness of your "vampire" might be another route.

Kolchak was a reporter and the TV series was awesome.  But I had actually forgot there was a wonderful Vampire movie that kicked the whole thing off!!!  Thanks for reminding me.

 

Twilight….   The only good part in any of those was the clips I saw if them ripping each other’s heads off.  Then they used that as a “never really happened”.  Sigh.  Vampires sometimes do sparkle in the sun.  Right before the real pyrotechnics kick in and they explode or melt

 

I an not averse to a Master Vampire who is weakened by the sun.  In the old  tales people who were trying to figure out Vampires sometimes believed this

 

Sigh, no Nicolas was not a Vampire in Vampire’s Kiss.   I know in the modern era we show deference to someone’s beliefs about themselves.  And this is an interesting comment on the movie, highlighting Nicolas’ good  acting as well, where the main character is insane.   Accurate.  But Nicolas still owes me the movie money back and two hours of my life.  With interest 

 

 

[Snarky]

8 minutes ago, MrAxe said:

Watched an interview recently where he debunked the whole 'stars in anything' myth. Apparently there's plenty he turns down.

Yes, he turns down a lot. No one smart works for nothing.  But once you meet a certain dollar figure gate he will not turn it down, no matter how atrocious.   As evidence I would like to present: Nicolas’ Cage’s acting career!

[Marshal_General]

Has Nicholas Cage worked with Samuel L Jackson? He is another person who can't say no to a script.

[The_Warpact]

1 hour ago, Snarky said:

Yes, he turns down a lot. No one smart works for nothing.  But once you meet a certain dollar figure gate he will not turn it down, no matter how atrocious.   As evidence I would like to present: Nicolas’ Cage’s acting career!

I thought Nic did it for back taxes or his agent ripped him off or something. 

[Luminara]

15 hours ago, Snarky said:

So, How would you write up Dracula?

 

I wouldn't.  That story's been done to death (pun intended).  Every angle and variation imaginable has been explored, there's nothing fresh or interesting to draw from it at this point.

 

But that doesn't mean the concept of vampirism itself is sucked dry (also intended).  I have considered delving into that.  For example, why do vampires feed on the blood of living creatures?  If we strip away the mysticism and magic associated with that, what's the real motivation behind it?  Hemoglobin isn't exactly the most nutrient-rich substance, even taking into account that it's a delivery route for nutrients.  So why the "need" for blood?  What if we give it a combined physical and psychological motivation?  What if vampires suck blood not as food, but to counter the chill of death?  Their bodies are room temperature, at best, and warming up in front of a fire takes forever to increase the body's core temperature.  One can imagine, then, that being afflicted with vampirism means always feeling cold, miserable, and the sensation of hot blood running down the throat, pooling in the stomach, spreading throughout the body... feeling, even if only for a brief time, the lassitude of the native hypothermic state falling away, the sensation of being warm and comfortable.  It would drive the entire story, wouldn't it, that overwhelming desire to recapture the essence of normalcy that was lost.  That addiction to feeling alive.

 

Dracula is old hat.  Try a fresh approach.

[Snarky]

1 minute ago, Luminara said:

 

I wouldn't.  That story's been done to death (pun intended).  Every angle and variation imaginable has been explored, there's nothing fresh or interesting to draw from it at this point.

 

But that doesn't mean the concept of vampirism itself is sucked dry (also intended).  I have considered delving into that.  For example, why do vampires feed on the blood of living creatures?  If we strip away the mysticism and magic associated with that, what's the real motivation behind it?  Hemoglobin isn't exactly the most nutrient-rich substance, even taking into account that it's a delivery route for nutrients.  So why the "need" for blood?  What if we give it a combined physical and psychological motivation?  What if vampires suck blood not as food, but to counter the chill of death?  Their bodies are room temperature, at best, and warming up in front of a fire takes forever to increase the body's core temperature.  One can imagine, then, that being afflicted with vampirism means always feeling cold, miserable, and the sensation of hot blood running down the throat, pooling in the stomach, spreading throughout the body... feeling, even if only for a brief time, the lassitude of the native hypothermic state falling away, the sensation of being warm and comfortable.  It would drive the entire story, wouldn't it, that overwhelming desire to recapture the essence of normalcy that was lost.  That addiction to feeling alive.

 

Dracula is old hat.  Try a fresh approach.

I like the thinking, but the warmth would be psychological more than biological. Might be like you putting an ice cube in your mouth.  You might feel cold but your body will remain the same temperature.

 

I am drawn to a theme of "The negative material plane" and what that means for creatures that draw power from it.  In our game I see the Dark power sets as drawing their power from this Dark place.  When Dark powers drain or debuff the vast majority of that effect is the relationship between the target and the negative material plane.  The character using the power is just aiming the effect and possibly acting as a conduit for the effect.  Sometimes as the life force energy is drained from the victim the caster enjoys a bit of a boost (Soul Drain, Siphon Life, Dark Consumption) but mostly it is just letting the Dark do what it does, drain the life from anything it touches.

 

To me this applies nicely (if not neatly) to the Vampires draining blood.  It is the life force they are striving to take.  Most Vampires are unaware of the Dark per se and are just acting on blind instinct and hunger.  But a truly aware Vampire would (in my thinking) be closer to a Sith Lord.  Aware of the life around them and burning through it to gain more power and do what they want.  The Sith do not create the force or strengthen it like a Jedi, they ride it and use it up. Where this does not neatly fit into the scheme of things is why blood?  That question I am exploring in my current short story.  But "The Blood is the Life" is the card Vampires are dealt.  So, that is the cornerstone I have agreed to write around.

[Frozen Burn]

What about a human form only Warshade?  Warshades have "dark" / negative energy powers, do a lot of life draining, and even consume corpses.  

 

Especially with powers named:  Sunless Mire, Essences Drain, Orbiting Death, Dark Extraction, Eclipse, and etc etc etc.  🙂  

Edited March 26, 2022 by Frozen Burn

[Snarky]

9 minutes ago, Frozen Burn said:

What about a human form only Warshade?  Warshades have "dark" / negative energy powers, do a lot of life draining, and even consume corpses.  

 

Especially with powers named:  Sunless Mire, Essences Drain, Orbiting Death, Dark Extraction, Eclipse, and etc etc etc.  🙂  

For me the Peacebringers and Warshades have always been derivative of HP Lovecraft's Cthulu mythos.  And that, my friend, is avery deep pool even I dare not dip a toe into.

 

(Honestly reading part of an HP Lovecraft story and taking a nap in a warm living room on a sunny afternoon can give me nightmares!)

[InvaderStych]

40 minutes ago, Luminara said:

Dracula is old hat.  Try a fresh approach.

 

 

 

[Clave Dark 5]

Pretty sure that ultimately a vampire's blood thirst is metaphorical life stealing; blood is symbolic for life, especially in a Christian society.  I see vampires as fully magical/spiritual creatures, maybe like ghosts? so there's not much done with the science side of their living off blood (which is indeed actually fairly rare in nature: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/blood-real-vampires-animals ).

[Snarky]

4 minutes ago, InvaderStych said:

 

 

 

Colin Robinson and the Internet Troll is must watch TV for everyone in the modern world.