Are we on the cusp of a Tabletop Hollywood moment?

[overgeeked]

Maybe stating obvious here but "Torchwood" is an anagram for "Doctor Who". An aspect that I always thought was clever.

It was the codename the BBC used before announcing the return of the show in 2005. They wanted to keep things a secret in case it didn’t actually make it back to air.

 

[Maxperson]

That's because there really isn't much that's novel about the world of "Vampire: The Masquerade." It's the sort of thing that has existed in many novels and TV shows before, and after.

Most of it stems back to Ann Rice. You can see a lot of Rice in WoD, both of which inspired True Blood, What We Do in the Shadows, etc.

 

[Maxperson]

I literally can't even with this.

Yes, a TV show based off of a property that came from a role-playing game will have nothing to do with the game, as in the collection of rules that structure play. Any more than the output from playing the game will have anything to do with the game (since the result of playing the game is story).

But a large number of games have unique, identifiable, and characteristic elements to their creative expression. That's what makes them a creative property. The direction that the flow of adaptation follows doesn't matter. It can be a book first, turn into a board game, made into a TV show, made into a role-playing game. There's still continuity of the core, identifiable elements of the property. That's what's important. Nobody cares about this weird fetish of it not being about "the game".

I understand what you are saying, but I think you go too far in saying that they have nothing to do with the game. Yes the resulting story isn't the rules of the game, and no the lore of a movie made into an RPG doesn't have rules before the game is made, but they are the foundations upon which those things are built. No original movie lore = no game made from it. No rules and lore for the RPG = no emergent story. They do have something to do with one another.

 

[Ryujin]

Most of it stems back to Ann Rice. You can see a lot of Rice in WoD, both of which inspired True Blood, What We Do in the Shadows, etc.

Even Rice just went with themes that came before, for the most part.

 

[Maxperson]

I'll bite even though your game is getting really tiring.

• Glorantha
• Traveller's Imperium
• Earthdawn
• Shadowrun
• TORG
• The entire WoD
• Over the Edge
• In Nomine
• Kult
• Nephilim
• Underground
• Heavy Gear
• Tribe 8
• Blue Planet
• Exalted

I'll stop there, because otherwise I could go on quite a while. Each one of those has creative elements (i.e., their setting) that transcends just the rules.

You're not making the point you think you are.

He wasn't asking you to name more games. I'm pretty sure that was asking you to name unique elements from the ones he listed.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That's because there really isn't much that's novel about the world of "Vampire: The Masquerade." It's the sort of thing that has existed in many novels and TV shows before, and after.

What We Do in the Shadows is at least partially informed by VtM, just as True Blood was, whether or not they ever officially acknowledge it. (Later seasons of True Blood often felt like them frantically flailing around for another splatbook to introduce, since they were long, long ago running on fumes.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Even Rice just went with themes that came before, for the most part.

I don't recall encountering full underground societies of vampires prior to Anne Rice. It was always a solitary vampire or a vampire and their small group of followers (the brides in Dracula, the vampires of Salem's Lot, etc.). Is there a prominent antecedent?

 

[overgeeked]

I don't recall encountering full underground societies of vampires prior to Anne Rice. It was always a solitary vampire or a vampire and their small group of followers (the brides in Dracula, the vampires of Salem's Lot, etc.). Is there a prominent antecedent?

Horror comics and Hammer films. There's a lot of wild vampire stuff from the '60s and '70s. Rice published Interview in 1976. She might have seen some of that, she might not. Multiple discovery is a thing.

 

[Ryujin]

Horror comics and Hammer films. There's a lot of wild vampire stuff from the '60s and '70s. Rice published Interview in 1976. She might have seen some of that, she might not. Multiple discovery is a thing.

I would also point to the horror soap opera "Dark Shadows", specifically, as a possible influence. It ran from 1966-1971.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would also point to the horror soap opera "Dark Shadows", specifically, as a possible influence. It ran from 1966-1971.

I have no doubt that Anne Rice watched Dark Shadows. That's entirely her vibe.