Brainstorm: Vampires of Athas (Dark Sun)

[Melba Toast]

I'm thinking of introducing a vampire lord into my Dark Sun campaign and I'm looking for ideas.

I play Dark Sun pretty straight, with 2e AD&D rules and the 1st Dark Sun boxed set. I haven't altered the setting much from Troy Denning's original intent and my PCs are contemporaries of Rikus, Sadira et al.

I was thinking a powerful vampire could be an interesting new villain on Athas, someone who could rival the sorcerer-kings. But unlike the sorcerer-kings, he might be someone the PCs could overcome.

For those of you familiar with Dark Sun, do you have any suggestions?

 

[Staffan]

I'm thinking of introducing a vampire lord into my Dark Sun campaign and I'm looking for ideas.

I play Dark Sun pretty straight, with 2e AD&D rules and the 1st Dark Sun boxed set.

Dark Sun generally uses a different set of undead than regular AD&D, with the exception of the basic skeletons and zombies. Some types are included in the second MC appendix. The ones most suited to taking an "evil overlord" approach would be kaisharga or t'lizes, both of which are similar to liches. Most of the other undead types are either bound to a place and/or a task.

 

[filthgrinder]

I'd basically point you to the "City by the Silt Sea" box set. Dregoth is basically the model for an undead overlord enemy.

 

[Jhaelen]

I was thinking a powerful vampire could be an interesting new villain on Athas, someone who could rival the sorcerer-kings. But unlike the sorcerer-kings, he might be someone the PCs could overcome.

For those of you familiar with Dark Sun, do you have any suggestions?

I wouldn't use a straight vampire. In Dark Sun all (non-mindless) undead are supposed to be unique, so I'd mix and match interesting abilities borrowed from several undead.

Back in the time when I DMed my Dark Sun campaign I created random tables to roll for abilities and vulerabilities. Also, don't forget a unique background/motivation - that's more important than any set of abilities.

 

[humble minion]

There's actually a bit of thematic room in Dark Sun for vampires imho.

Consider travellers (whether they be traders, mercenaries, slavers, escaped slaves, defeated soldiers, or whoever) who ran out of water in the wastes between city-states. Imagine if, furious and insane with thirst, they started killing each other, one by one, and drinking the blood of their fellows to survive another day or two. Last man standing, having drained all the rest, becomes the first vampire of Athas....

(Not sure of the mechanics of how this happened - Athas doesn't lend itself to the standard 'cursed by the gods for his evil' explanation of such things. Maybe he was a necromancer before all this happened to him, and his(/ her!) connection to the Gray combined with drinking the blood of seven friends as a sort of spontaneous ritual to trigger vampirism)

 

[Melba Toast]

There's actually a bit of thematic room in Dark Sun for vampires imho.

Consider travellers (whether they be traders, mercenaries, slavers, escaped slaves, defeated soldiers, or whoever) who ran out of water in the wastes between city-states. Imagine if, furious and insane with thirst, they started killing each other, one by one, and drinking the blood of their fellows to survive another day or two. Last man standing, having drained all the rest, becomes the first vampire of Athas....

Yes. Yes! Yes!

Humble minion has the right idea. I know that the undead in Dark Sun are atypical. I'm trying to create a vampire that is distinctly "Athesian".

I am aware of Dregoth (I have virtually everything published under the DS banner) but that's not what I'm trying to do here.

Perhaps the vampire -is- tied to a place. Should that make him any less sentient or ambitious? DS already has a vaguely vampiric creature called the Thrax (although it drains a body of water) but I think the Thrax is kind of lame.

 

[Wik]

There's a DRAGON article that could be used to randomly create intelligent Undead. I used it a bunch back in the day - it's pretty awesome (issue# 173, I think).

There already are a few water-crazed undead in dark sun, but it's a good place to start. Personally, I'd go with the idea that the first vampire was one who worked his many slaves to death, determined to get every drop of blood out of them possible. Through a curse, or something similar, he began to thirst for the blood of slaves.

Or we could have a gladiator who would fly into a blood frenzy in the arena, and who grew so battle-crazed that he was known to drink the blood those he slayed, doing so in the plain view of the shocked (but at the same time, secretly thrilled) gladiatorial audience. When he was killed by a half-giant's spear, our blood-thirsty gladiator didn't even notice, propelled by his developed thirst for blood. However, when he fed that day, in front of a shocked audience, he did so in such a shocking way (using claws that he grew to rip open the flesh of the giant to get to the thick arteries) that he was sentenced to death.

Howeve,r his noble owner didn't want to lose such a grand source of profit, and so instead hid the gladiator underneath his villa in long-abandoned catacombs. The undead gladiator was forced underground, waiting for the day when the lid would be lifted and he could once again walk into the light. Unfortunately, his owner died from assassination - and he brought the secret of the buried vampire to his grave.

Our gladiator was stuck in the catacombs for two hundred years, his blood thirst going stronger and stronger, with only bats and rats serving as companions. Eventually, he emerged only to find that his centuries-dead skin couldn't stand the slightest touch of sunlight. Our gladiator now stalks the shadows, picking off both weak and strong, and aching for revenge...

 

[Staffan]

Perhaps the vampire -is- tied to a place. Should that make him any less sentient or ambitious? DS already has a vaguely vampiric creature called the Thrax (although it drains a body of water) but I think the Thrax is kind of lame.

The place-tied undead tend to be more passive, with their primary interest being in keeping out intruders.

That said, I could see a meorty (a type of undead from the Green Age created to guard a domain and its ancient laws) suddenly getting it into his head that it would be a good idea to expand said domain. Meorty are also good at the whole "hordes of lesser undead" thing.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Some ideas:

1) Instead of merely being "thirsty" for the water/blood of the living...perhaps the Athasian "vampire" needs the blood of the psionically/magically powerful.

Sure, almost everyone on Athas has psp, but these guys need it in large amounts. The typical person's reserve amounts to a mere sip...

2) D&D vampires have a gaseous form. Perhaps the Athasian "vampire's" form is shifting, creeping sand. Or maybe he must sleep in sand, as traditional vampires sleep on dirt.

3) Reverse their traditional weaknesses. Instead of holy water harming them, they absorb it. Instead of being harmed by sunlight, it strengthens them. They are daywalkers who virtually freeze in place at nightfall. Perhaps like the old European stories of Trolls caught in sunlight, they become stone in the dark? (Which, for what its worth, would make Darkness an interesting spell against them.)

The "stone" idea would give such a vampire characteristics much like a Weeping Angel from Dr Who.

3) Perhaps they only occur in Halflings or other smallish species, and attack in swarms. Think of the critters from Pitch Black. In this case, the "vampires" could be an entire village...

Worse yet, perhaps they live in something like a termite mound, and only emerge at night.

 

[Melba Toast]

I'd like to create an interesting "mid-level" boss. I don't forsee my group ever reaching the point where they can take on the Dragon-Kings, and I want to create a powerful, mysterious and frightening villain that can be defeated around level 10-12.

DS is awkward in this regard. Most of the creatures in DS are animal or feral. Intelligent evil is much less common (except for the Kings, who are too powerful to take on directly) and I'm not terribly fond of killing the Sorceror Kings anyway. Too often I have to resort to powerful NPCs (like Templars) to face off with the PCs, but the problem is that players aren't intimidated by powerful NPCs. It's in the players' nature to assume they can take on any NPC human/demi-human. Monsterous villians, on the other hand, tend to intimidate the players much more.

I want this vampire to be interesting and unique to Athas, but at the same time, vaguely familiar to the players. The players will be more alarmed if they recognize certain characteristics of the vampire, because they know the vampire will pose a deadly challenge.

I've never had much interest in the lands beyond the Tablelands, but I thought the Obsidian Plains south of the Tyr region might be a good location for this guy. Bodach might also be a good place for this creature. Where else?

He should also be powerful enough to alarm the Dragon, the Kings, the Alliance, the Villichi, the Order, and all the other factions with stakes in the future of Athas. This is the basis for an entire campaign.