In the poll I put up, it seems most people want recurring villains, which I have a post started for, so I may work on getting that done soon. Next most desired was alternate power sourced classes (which I am looking forward to working on), followed by more optimized characters, and lastly 'something else'. I am gonna leave the poll there, in hopes that more people decide to voice their opinion.
Now, the new setting idea...
Vampires are seen as god-leaders, with their super human strength, abilities, near invulnerability, and especially their long lives. Some vampires are just rulers and wish for thier people to prosper, some simply don't care what the mortals do... But others see the humans as toys to play with, or worse... FOOD.
The vampires are weak to sunlight, causing them terrible damage, so they need deadly monsters and vicious animals under their control to protect them during the day. Many vamp hunters have found an early grave by finding out too late about a vamp's monster breeding hobby. A smart vampire will be protected by a loyal werewolf army, where as a foolish vampire will rely on his own strength.
Because they are seen as gods, the vampires can get their people to willingly let them drink their blood, or they simply slaughter someone and bathe in their blood. Some see it as an honor to have their blood drank, to feed their god, and some live in fear of the day they get picked to be bled to death. All people survive feeding a vampire who doesn't kill them for fun, and they do not turn into vampires, unless they drink the vampire's blood. The vampires, however are careful to keep that a secret.
Among the humans (and other races, if you decide to use this) there is a secret society of vampire hunters, who hunt down vampires who abuse their powers. They fight their way through castles full of monsters to the vampire's lair to slay it. It's not an easy job, but if they don't, countless will suffer.
Since the vampires are seen as gods, any characters who receive power from divine sources must search elsewhere. Some receive their powers from forgotten gods from before the time of the vampires, some from the spirits of the world itself, some from the stars and beings among them, and some from beings even worse than the vampires.
This is not going to become the new setting I am working on (at least not until I am done with AoA) but I would like your opinion of it! please post any thoughts you have on it or the ramblings above.
4 comments:
The problem with Vampires is that there is a HUGE mythos that they belong to and with anything that has a huge mythos, it can be hard to do anything new with them. I see some valid attempts at this (people looking to older or forgotten gods for power), but the vamps need something new as well.
well, you could always make them SPARKLY! :D
Umm... no.
But, there is so much you could add... There is a lot of vampire mythos to take from, and maybe each vampire has its own personal power- control over an element, teleportation, mist-form, etc. I can't think of anything original right now, but I recall that in the discworld novels, vampires would, in their attempt to become more human, pick a hobby and become deeply obsessed with it. Oh, and did you know that vampires, in some myths, have OCD? its amazing what you learn from watching the X-Files.
Yes there is a lot to take from. Perhaps the best thing to do here is to take an established idea (like the being deeply obsessed with a human hobby) and using it in a way that hasn't been seen. Control over an element/an individual power is also nothing new really (as it has been around the mythos for a while and was a key element in the twilight books as well. Not to mention that the original Dracula could turn into mist...) However you could add a new spin as to how they control a new power or how a new power comes to be. For instance, say you had sub-species of vampires that originally came to be by being bitten by different kinds of bats. So for instance, a vampire decedent of a fruit bat could control plants. Or even better, perhaps because the word "fruit" has many connotations, maybe the vampire is more fertile. I dunno, that was off the top of my head and I am not entirely too sure it is a new idea at all.
The ability to grow/control plants would be good for a vamp that wants his people to prosper, and could have carnivorous plants and plant-based monsters as pets/protectors.
other Ideas: from Helsing (anime/manga): Ability to call army of 'familiars' at will. Possibly original idea: Because the leaders are nocturnal their people are as well, perhaps the vamp hunters operate during the day?
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