D&D 5E Suitable adventure for a PC vampire

[jayoungr]

About a year and a half ago, I introduced a friend's daughter to D&D. The very first thing she asked for in her very first game was to play a vampire. I convinced her to try a drow instead (which she enjoyed), saying that a vampire would be a more advanced option. She's been playing enthusiastically since that time and has really learned the game, so I told her that for her 13th birthday (in about five weeks), I'll run a game where she can play a vampire. I found a third-party vampire-as-class writeup that I think will work well.

But I'm trying to decide on the best type of adventure to use. I'm wondering whether an all-vampire party would be the best way to go? If not, should I at least ban PC clerics and paladins, so no one gets ideas about inter-party PVP?

Does anyone know of any published (EDIT: one-shot) adventures that would work well with a vampire PC? Or in general, what kinds of stories do you think would work well?

I'm feeling stumped, so any brain-jogging you can provide would be appreciated!

 

[MarkB]

Tough question. There are a lot of different ways of playing vampires as a 'species', and within each there are a whole range of individual vampire characters. A lot will depend on the character's motivations. Plus, it's a group game, so you want vampire-friendly, but not necessarily vampire-centric.

I'd be tempted to say Curse of Strahd, simply for the irony factor, and it would certainly have some potential.

Out of the Abyss would be a simple way to run an adventure without ever having to worry about "but what about daylight?"

 

[iserith]

I'd be very hesitant to run a game involving PC vampires for a kid, so I think here I'd incline toward something comical like trying to gather the necessary parts and expertise to complete a sun-blocking machine a la Mr. Burns. It's a straightforward enough objective with multiple sub-quests to get it done to which the vampire's abilities may be useful (depending on the character options available in the class write-up). All the while, the vampires are being hunted by some inept vampire slayers with silly names like Von Yellsing who you can always hear coming because he talks too loudly.

I'd try my best to avoid real horror or opportunities for things to go dark. Except when they complete and deploy the sun-blocking machine, I mean.

 

[jayoungr]

I'd be tempted to say Curse of Strahd, simply for the irony factor, and it would certainly have some potential.

Out of the Abyss would be a simple way to run an adventure without ever having to worry about "but what about daylight?"

Thanks for your suggestion! I should have clarified that I'm looking for a one-shot adventure, not a whole campaign. I've edited my original post to reflect that.

I'm definitely open to non-WotC-published adventures, by the way.

 

[GlassJaw]

She lost her sparkles and has to find them.

 

[robus]

What is it she likes about vampires in particular? Is it the air of mystery and danger or straight up sucking the blood of helpless victims? Lording it over the local villages? I guess what kind of theme is she looking for?

Have you asked her what kinds of challenges she wants her vampire PC to tackle (and will there be a party of vampires)?

If it's just her - then perhaps her PC is wanting to join a vampire den and has to perform some challenges to prove her worthiness?

 

[Oofta]

She steps out into open, bursts into flames and dies a horrible death while you give a maniacal laugh and yell "That's why you don't play a vampire!"

Or ... well just about any adventure would work. Just give the group a heads up that there's going to be a vampire in their midst and ask them not to mist her. Paladins don't have to be good, not all clerics turn undead or have better use for turn undead. Maybe the rest of the PCs don't even know she's a vampire. Give her some cool vampire powers and let her figure out how to deal with the rest of the party.

Or have a ghoul's night out. Everybody is some classic monster such as vampire, werewolf, flesh golem or other undead Might be more work than you want to do for a one-shot but it could be a lot of fun. Put a twist on it that they were all just a bunch of kids going out trick-or-treating and found themselves transformed and have until dawn to figure out how to undo the spell.

 

[jayoungr]

The game is starting to take a bit more shape. Looks like we may have an all-vampire party, and the group has also specified that they want a spooky adventure. I will probably end up just writing a short five-room dungeon for them, but I could still use some inspiration:

What would scare a vampire?

Note that they asked for a spooky adventure, so "sunlight" or "paladins" won't fit that request. They want to be dark heroes fighting something even darker.

 

[iserith]

Those stupid vampire eaters from the Blade sequels. Describe them with the bad CGI too.

 

[aco175]

Undead always make more evil bad guys that something else. You could have a necromancer creating shadows that are stealing townsfolk. The vampires want to save the folk to later use for food.