Now, here's a topic I've been wanting to do for a good long while. Vampires, to be a stereotypical gothic nerdy wanker, are one of my favorite archetype of supernatural creatures of all time. There's so much that a writer can do with vampires. They're almost certainly the most versatile undead, and can make really good antagonists, protagonists, or supporting characters. So, without further ado, let's examine everyone's favorite bloodsucking zombies, vampires.
Vampires hold a basically unique stance among the undead, because they are the undead with PERSONALITIES. Zombies, wights, ghouls, and other varieties of walking corpses really have no identity besides being flat out antagonists to be slashed apart without guilt. One of the most important things about vampires is that they are people. People with flaws, people with memories, people who may have been transformed into abominations against nature against their will. As much as I hate DM's trying to force their philosophical views on a campaign, vampires are really the only kind of undead that actually have personalities. When a vampire succumbs to a player's well placed stake or flamethrower, there should definitely be a feeling that an eternal life is ending, and that in itself, is a bit sad, regardless of how necessary it is.
Vampires have another unique quality as antagonists, because they represent temptation. There's definitely something very cool about living forever through devouring all your enemies. What vampires should represent, however, is a classic devil's bargain. Something that looks attractive, but on closer examinations, fails. Vampires have some pretty problematic restrictions. Can you imagine never seeing the sun again? or only having about ten hours to act every day? Vampires live in an eternal unlife, a very real curse, that fucks them up in a physical and pragmatic way as well as a metaphysical way. Even people who don't really care about the implications of a blood drinking monstrosity will have some problems when they realize that they have no one to feed off but their aged mothers. Vampirism should represent trading life for a miserable half life, that really, is no different to becoming a ghoul digging through a graveyard, or a wraith haunting a delapitated old mansion. Vampirism represents how undeath can be seductive to someone with very poor planing skills. Ultimately, it's not really worth it, but it has some very nice bells and whistles hanging off it, which can ensnare people who are desperate or needy.
One can't really discuss vampires in RPG's without discussing them as protagonists. Vampire: The Masquerade and The Requiem have made their entire franchise out of people portraying vampires as player characters, and really, it seems like I'd be selling them short without mentioning them as characters. Now, vampires are just as cool as protagonists as anything else, and make for some really good anti-heroes. There's something about a character that requires a solid intake of fresh human blood that adds a shade of grey to even the most squeaky clean characters. This is why Vampire (both WoD lines, I realize it's heresy not to choose one over the other, but I like them both) rank as my favorite roleplaying games. Vampires offer a really unique opportunity to play as an outright villain. Regardless of how you rationalize it, from the perspective of one of the kine, vampires are baddies. Everything they do ultimately serves themselves, and no matter how good they are, they're ultimately concerned with how to preserve their unlives for all eternity. There's a really neat dichotomy in that, which is what largely attracts me to them as supernatural creatures. Vampirism, regardless of any rationalization or any kind of justification, is ultimately, and should be portrayed as a bad thing. Nothing really justifies feeding off a person's blood, and there should always be that subtle sort of theme of corruption underlying the idea of the vampire. This is the reason it's referred to as the Curse of Caine, by White Wolf games. No matter how many neat benefits it gives, all it is is really a curse. A curse both on you and on everyone around you.
Overall, the vampiric archetype has lasted almost as long as recorded history. As a story point it wouldn't have survived as long without some lasting appeal and multiple vectors of interpretation. Whether you portray vampires as nasty, disgusting, plague carrying biohazards or metropolitan bloodsuckers, they're pretty unlikely to die out any time soon. This is almost certainly not the last time I'm going to visit my favorite bloodsuckers, but this is a nice preliminary look at vampires as they fit into the RPG genre.
- Kephn
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