Help me build a Vampiric City!

[WayneLigon]

Sunlight would definitely be a problem. I think the city would be designed to have a lot of dark, shady places. Maybe this could be just an element of the architecture, so there are lots of awnings and overhangs. Or maybe a sorcerer or druid cast a powerful spell that limited light in the city.

A city... and an undercity, the re-built and cleaned-up ruins of a previous civilization. The vampires all live in the City Below, since the old powerful ones date from a time that city was the new one shining in the sunlight.

 

[Warren Okuma]

A city... and an undercity, the re-built and cleaned-up ruins of a previous civilization. The vampires all live in the City Below, since the old powerful ones date from a time that city was the new one shining in the sunlight.

The Vampires for some reason are Lawful Evil. And they quickly dispatch criminals and minions of the evil entity... an Atropol in "topor." They are ruled by "the seven" as a council and are pro-business, supports it's merchants, and ruthlessly hunts down bandits. The Vampires are also starting up a banking cartel. Soon this place will be a center of finance.

 

[GAAAHHH]

Why do people live in this city if they can freely leave and the vampires can't? I mean, they're essentially livestock pens except it's the wolf that's penned in, not the livestock.

There's gotta be some reason; some incentive for people to live here.

Mind Control.

 

[William drake]

Ahahaha

The trains run on time?

Edit: I could see apathy and traditional connections with the city preventing a lot of people from leaving. All their ties are in the city, and the vampires keep their worst activities secret.

This is the best quote on the entire thread.


“Can’t cross running water” so what, they are carried over like people in wheel chairs? Aren’t there roads, bridges, wooden planks? Have you ever seen what Venice looked like in the 12th and 16th century? (and anyways, that popular note came from the aspects of the bible's Baptisim by Water, so, if you don't use it that way, it really doesn't apply.) Water, excpt in the rare places where you might use really, truly holy water, which hould be rare, has no effect on them. They still bathe, they may not sweat, but they do get dirty other ways.

Also, how many humans are there? And how many vampires?
If the vampires are living out and about, everyone knows about them, then their can’t be to many people. You see, most people, even being scared won’t submit for ever. That’s always been a factor of vampires...keep yourself hidden least the cattle learn of you and overtake you. “I might stop a bull by being in his way with a gun, but if I get in the way of a herd, even that gun won’t do me any good if they really want to get out.” Get my point.

I would advise a few things:
Make it so that those humans who are in power, know of the vampires, and are under their control, thereby, the vampires are incharge.

Do not mix other races, keep this a human, vampire tale. *thing of all the extra bull you might have to deal with if you don’t.* Also, vampires, in most opinions, do best if its just a human thing.

Also, keep out some of the true D&D classes, but if you wish to keep them, make them fit the story. For example: make a wizard, an Occultist, and make his magic limited.

This game I think would do much better on a small scale; hamlets, vast country, wilderness for the vampires to really call upon the things they can control. Also, a single vampire family; more is not always best.

Now, I would reconsidered the church thing. Now I know I’m going away from D&D vampires, but...well, who cares. And, if the players are playing characters that know nothing of vampires, then they cant say “well, that’s not how it is in the book.” Ok, so back to the point. I’d keep the churches, make it a vampire joke. Religion doesn’t bother them, they don’t believe in god, or god’s; make the faith in that world, like ours.....everything religious that has ever happened, was a long time ago, and nothing big has happened since. *Then, if you into a cleric who can really do D&D stuff, that will make some heads turn.*

Now, keep the sunlight...you can’t just block out the sun, and it would get kind of stupid to see the city having all black lights, and big sky shields or w/e you’d use to make it so that the vampire would have protections. Make it so that the sun, one of their only real weaknesses, isn’t known, there for, they have no reason to fear it; they don’t go outside, and that’s been enough to keep them protected for however long in your story they’ve been there. *might make it that one dude knew, but died ages ago...mysteriously.* Also, without the religious bs, now you can say that sunlight is an actual chemical reaction to their new state of being, how it ignites their cells to the point that lots of heat friction is produced, and fire is the effect.


Remember, that vampires like most everything human, they like to be around the pleasures they can no longer have; they use people as go-betweens. They watch humans get drunk, since they cant, they watch humans have sex, since they cant. *Feeding, is the closest thing they have to erotica. The KISS, is what gets them.*


Now, have you thought about Vampire Hunters...that could be fun.

Lastly, do a lot of good vampire reading: Dracula, and some of the World of Darkness books; Ann Rice is ok, just make sure you understand her reason for using erotica in the way she does. Stay away from Anime, and other crap like Blade and what-not.


But then again, these are just my thoughts. I could be wrong.

Any way, Game On. And Good Luck.

 

[Tonguez]

Seeing the name of the thread got me thinking

What if the city itself is a gigantic vampiric organism draining the life of its occupants. Perhaps the city prevents the humans from leaving since any that go beyond the zone are devoured by the city itself and simply forgotten by all its inhabitants

Now what if the five Vampire Lords found a way to subdue the City-Organism and keep it under control as long as they remain. The humans cannot leave the confines of the city or will be devoured by it and the Vampires Lords nurture their stock keeping them reasonably happy and wealthy

So dillema - if you kill the Vampire Lords you unleash the greater evil of the Vampire City!

 

[Quartz]

Perhaps the whole city is in the Underdark, by the Sunless Sea, so there's nowhere for the humans to go.

 

[Arkhandus]

I see problems with the whole "vampires can't cross running water" fact, and your idea to make this vampire city resemble Venice.

Can't cross it means they can't use boats or the like either. Dunno about bridges, but probably not.

 

[Set]

No Elves. There are reasons, trumped up reasons, and elves from the 'black forest' are blamed for occasional disappearances (people who disappear are, naturally, eaten by vampires), to keep the populace properly fearful and hateful towards elves.

Why hate elves? Resistant to vampiric charm. Old enough to know what the city was like before the vampires took over. Inspired several times by druids and priests among them to try and 'free' the city from the control of vampires, and the feud between the elves and vampires is now entrenched, with the (mostly) human populace of the city unaware of the truth of the matter, being firmly convinced that elves are evil, jealous, heathens, whatever.

No religion at all would be unworkable, IMO. Instead, there would be a 'state religion' based on the citys 'patron god.' Said 'god' would either be an evil god, whose functioning priests are all under the thrall of the 'city elders,' or, worse, an arch-devil or demon-prince, who has no actual Clerics, but does have Adepts in his / her service, to provide limited Divine spellcasting, without any of that pesky Turn / Rebuke Undead stuff.

The city itself is quite popular because it's a nest of vice and sinful pleasures, by night. Citizens are encouraged to attend the many popular 'masked balls' and grand celebrations and galas and 'roaming parties' that traverse in gaily-clad entourage from estate to estate in high pomp. The preponderance of masks and nocturnal parties makes it easier for the 'elders' to travel among the hoi-polloi, and for disappearances to go unremarked. The city is a prominent sea-port, and the sorts of things that would have to be smuggled into most cities are freely available here (drugs, slaves, etc.). And yet the city is remarkably clean and free from the sort of drug-addled street persons one would expect to see in a city of sin. (Gosh, it's like someone comes in the night and sweeps them from the streets!)

Each of the city 'elders,' often pretending to be descendents of their noble lineage (concealing their ageless nature), is a powerful vampire lord, some wizards, others priests (with private shrines concealed in their estates, for a city that officially has no competing religions), etc. They use their powers and connections, some dating back centuries, to 'family' scattered around the globe, to control and influence shipping in the region. Vampire spawn, or just human 'agents,' operate in other coastal cities, and relay information about rival shipping and actions. A rival ship might find itself attacked by the various dangers of the surrounding waters. Fair maidens draped in seaweed that rise from the waters and attract a night watchman's eye, calling him to leap overboard to her cold embrace. Swarming rats bursting forth from a barrel, bringing disease to a crew many days from safe harbor. A shadowy figure descending silently from the sky, leaving behind no evidence of his passing, save the savaged body of the mate found hanging from blood-soaked sails in the morning.

Business is good, especially when rivals ships always seem to suffer such unspeakable tragedies on the open sea. And so merchant caravans come instead to this city, to carry the goods that reach this port, since the other nearby port cities haven't been doing so well, helping the city to thrive, and creating plentiful work for the locals.

"Oh sure, people disappear, but it's not nearly like the out-of-towners say. Don't tell me that *your* town doesn't have a thieves guild! Doesn't every family have runaways or eccentric cousins who just pack up and leave? It's not like there's anything *sinister* going on. Why, I heard that in Greyport just last week, ten people were found dead on their ship. The harbormaster says it looks like they just went insane and attacked each other with gaff hooks and belaying pins and their bare hands! But you don't hear people slandering Greyport, do you? They're just jealous. Every town has a few people who disappear, and, frankly, I'm surprised that more people don't disappear, y'know, what with all those partiers up all night drinking and smoking who knows what. Slip in the dark and the next thing you know it's in the drink with you, and the current is taking you out to sea!"

This sort of city would be a perfect place to introduce PrCs like Death's Chosen (from Libris Mortis) or the Unfailing (from Hollowfaust, City of Necromancers, Sword & Sorcery) or the Moon Wraith Adepts (from Arcana; Societies of Magic, Green Ronin). Or even multiple branches. One 'family' might prefer using an arcane blood-ritual that allows them to create half-vampires to serve as daytime agents, another might prefer using necromantic forces to empower it's elite guardsmen with the abilities of Death's Chosen, while yet another jaded old bat trains her 'daughters' to be Duskblades, combining magic and martial skills.

 

[MHolland]

Poor, poor thieves guild.

I liked the concept of the undercity and the overcity. I assume the undercity is underneath the canals as well so the vampires are free to move around?

 

[Desdichado]

Sunlight would definitely be a problem. I think the city would be designed to have a lot of dark, shady places. Maybe this could be just an element of the architecture, so there are lots of awnings and overhangs. Or maybe a sorcerer or druid cast a powerful spell that limited light in the city.

One city in my setting, Razina, is famous for it's neighborhood of Bricktown--an ancient slum where all the gaps between the buildings have been bricked over with arched roofs. Essentially, the entire neighborhood has been turned into one gigantic building. Itinerant beggars and other desperate people live on the giant roof amongst the nooks and crannies, while the poor--who are moved en masse each day to the local fields and coal mines to work--live desperate lives inside. There are many who have never actually seen the light of the sun in their entire lives, particularly members of the organized crime rings, who have everything they need without leaving Bricktown.

In any case, that would certainly facilitate vampires. You could have large areas of the city with arched brick roofs that cover alleys, canals, etc. making it easier for the vampires to get around more. If you want to get a little more crazy, you could have some kind of ancient, powerful magic that simply keeps the sun from shining on the city. Perhaps there is a small moon in an extremely low orbit that has been held stationary over the city, acting like a giant parasol.