One Shot Vampire Session?

[Zilfer]

Interestingly wanted to try a "Vampire" Session or two. Anyone ever done 'let's play the monsters' type of campaign/sessions?

The idea might be something like, having them work as Vampire Spawn that were created by Strahd for a purpose. (Haven’t gotten that far but suggestions are welcome!) I’m still not 100% sold on doing this just yet, that’s because mostly I need to make considerations for what exactly I can do with this type of game.
Obviously most things will only happen at night, do I limit them with only sleeping in their coffin and they have to find a way to transport it? Or are they only able to get about 9 miles away(Think that’s from reading pathfinder page) from their coffin to get safely back to it in time for morning.
Also was thinking of perhaps just making them Vampires period, would also be a possibility…

Still in the thinking on this one thanks!

[MichaelTumey]

While not specifically for Ravenloft, I've run and played in several evil adventure parties that consisted entirely of each party member being a different kind of undead, while still maintaining party cohesion in goals and general behavior. I haven't run an adventure where all the party members were vampires under a specific vampire master, so they are more cursed innocents rather than an intentionally evil party, but seems perfectly appropriate for a short campaign. You'd probably start with some failed powers checks and try to exist while not going deeper into malignancy.

[Dark Angel]

I have been a member of a group of evil PCs (not undead) and all of the trials and tribulations of that situation (primarily healing and shelter). I have had individual players as liches and ghosts, but they were limited. The ghost was preset and doing a 6th Sense kind of deal with a strict agenda (the player had to play as if he was not a ghost as he was investigating the death of himself and his family) and the others were unaware (for a while, they are not stupid) at first. The lich was a product of a wish spell and I allowed him to run for a bit. Vampires are hard to run as they have many limitations (compared to other undead), but if done right can be awesome. If agents of Strahd (which wouldn't work as well in Barovia otherwise), they could be set up on a special mission where they could be sent out and about and then given a special gift (which could be some form of redemption or a special teleportation to a domain where they will be destroyed being so far away from their native soil). There is a reason why that Strahd is the upper echelon predator in Ravenloft. Something akin to a suicide run on Darkon (the vampires being shipped can get by most interposing borders while within their coffins and they just need to feed as soon as they get free) could be a reasonable adventure for the group in one setting.

[Jimsolo]

I played in a game where we had to polymorph ourselves into monsters to infiltrate a large goblinoid army. It ended up being pretty wacky, but fun.

[Zilfer]

Yeah most of my one shots actually turn out to be longer than 1 session.

Yeah Darkon would definitely be kind of suicidal, considering can’t Azalin just take control of them? It’d be interesting to let the PC’s get very close to Azalin before finding this out, since they’ve only ever spoken with Azalin briefly in any of my campaigns and I’m not sure they know too much about him. (in fact I know so much ravenloft that it’s hard for me to keep track of what I know and they know. xD

Yeah that’s part of why I think it would be interesting is them having limits… obviously they might need to make spawns so I might just make them fully fledged Vampires just to see what they do with them and dominated people perhaps.

How do most DM’s play Vampires? Do they instantly fall asleep or move to their coffin at sunrise? Or are they able to stay ‘up’ at daytime just avoid sunlight at all cost? Lol one of the original ideas is strahd was trying to make an orb of darkness so that he could walk around in the day? Perhaps I could even link it to I6 in that way.

More thoughts forthcoming…. I’m at work xD

[Dark Angel]

Yeah Darkon would definitely be kind of suicidal, considering can’t Azalin just take control of them? It’d be interesting to let the PC’s get very close to Azalin before finding this out, since they’ve only ever spoken with Azalin briefly in any of my campaigns and I’m not sure they know too much about him. (in fact I know so much ravenloft that it’s hard for me to keep track of what I know and they know. xD

My group was the same way, I tend to run only Barovia for my campaigns. When they went to Borca, they had no idea how the culture worked, who was who and were my little lost cubs in the woods wearing armor and traipsing around like the Barovian barbarians they were. Little changed after except they did lose the obvious armors.

How do most DM’s play Vampires? Do they instantly fall asleep or move to their coffin at sunrise? Or are they able to stay ‘up’ at daytime just avoid sunlight at all cost? Lol one of the original ideas is strahd was trying to make an orb of darkness so that he could walk around in the day? Perhaps I could even link it to I6 in that way.

According to Van Richten (2nd ed), vampires sleep patterns vary greatly. Strahd is 100% out from sunrise to sunset (that orb from I-6 is a bit flawed in this respect). Jander on the other hand was able to move about and only had to stay away from the sun. Some are sluggish and others are alert, but all need to sleep in their coffins for a short period of time. You can really make it whatever you want, and mixing it up could be interesting (one can guard the others during the day), but should still require coffins/native soil to rest in. The black orb would still be effective, but (unless something else has changed) the vampire would be blinded as well. In 2nd edition, the spell Mimic Mortal allows a vampire to lose special powers in exchange for losing its undead vulnerabilities. That is a short-term benefit, but it is a start.

[TheSalemlord]

Yeah most of my one shots actually turn out to be longer than 1 session.

Yeah Darkon would definitely be kind of suicidal, considering can’t Azalin just take control of them? It’d be interesting to let the PC’s get very close to Azalin before finding this out, since they’ve only ever spoken with Azalin briefly in any of my campaigns and I’m not sure they know too much about him. (in fact I know so much ravenloft that it’s hard for me to keep track of what I know and they know. xD

And how about reversing it?, Make the players Agents of the Kargat in a special mission for the King of Darkon

Manage time at the inverse too, With more night time than day. Also, do not attach them to their coffins. They may just need to avoid sunlight (Like Jander). Allow them to rest during the daylight time normally, so they can use the inns, or look for caves or old crypts. As agents of the Kargat, they may have special lairs around the core. Maybe a Captured or abandoned Vistani Bardo could do the trick.

I have a Party of traditional adventures with a non evil Vampire. Even if they fear his savage instincts, they help him a lot; even bought a wagon to carry his coffin everywhere. The real problem is that the Vampire Character is limited to night time, so the "normal" guys had to wait for him to awake, so he miss most of the day time adventure. I resolve it making him a Dhampir like "Vampire Hunter D"; But With a full Vampire Party this problem is not an issue.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

In 2nd edition, the spell Mimic Mortal allows a vampire to lose special powers in exchange for losing its undead vulnerabilities. That is a short-term benefit, but it is a start.

It's in 3e too. Gaz I, p 116

[Zilfer]

In 2nd edition, the spell Mimic Mortal allows a vampire to lose special powers in exchange for losing its undead vulnerabilities. That is a short-term benefit, but it is a start.

It's in 3e too. Gaz I, p 116

That's for the page number.

Thanks for the ideas thus far!

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

That's for the page number.

Mistipedia is your friend.

[Dark Angel]

The vampire click could have a few utterly dominated human servants (think Renfield from Dracula) that can cart them around, protect them from daytime dangers, be a portable food supply, and make all of the arrangements (booking an inn after dark? not so easy...), etc.

[Zilfer]

The vampire click could have a few utterly dominated human servants (think Renfield from Dracula) that can cart them around, protect them from daytime dangers, be a portable food supply, and make all of the arrangements (booking an inn after dark? not so easy...), etc.

Sadly I have not ever seen any of the classics.... ;D

It'd be interesting to see who they Dominate and what they do with this power. Needless to say it's hard to get out of control in ravenloft when there's so much that can curve them back in.

[Boris Drakov]

Have them roll up new normal characters.

Then have them head out to do some heroic deed and get violently savaged by wolves, vampires in wolf form. Then have them find shelter in an abandoned inn, farmstead, monastary, watchtower, church, you name it.

Have the vampires charm and turn one of them and have that character trick and turn each character in turn.

Then have them wake up in coffins having to claw their way out, fledgling vampires under the control of a new master. A new master sending them back to feed on the ones who sent them on the expedition.

[The Lesser Evil]

Instead of full blown vampires or vampire-spawn, you could have them as dhampyr or even a bunch of vampiric thralls like Renfield (I think Gaz II has rules sidebar on this in the darkon entry- basically a vampire giving his minions a short-term dose of power in exchange for becoming charmed by the vampire. The Kargat are fond of doing this.) Perhaps their task could be to babysit/transport a master vampire (complete with coffin) during his off hours? If it were in modern times, they might even drive a hearse!

[Chaot]

I've done this to great success, though I broke my 'absolutely no bait and switch' rule to do it. In fairness, I had the players roll up secondary PCs. I told them that we would use them on off sessions and warned them in advance that I was going to mess with them.

The day came when only two players made it to the session. We pulled out the secondary characters and I ran something kind of off the cuff involving escorting a merchant to town. There was much more going on but the point was to culminate in the encounter with the Headless Horseman from 'From the Shadows'.

The PCs became a sort of penanggalan, minus the dangling entrails. Their physique was boosted and they developed some psychosis and some nasty needs. One could haunt a victim's dreams, slowly driving them mad. Then, he would rip the eye balls out of the victims head and wear them in his own sockets. The other needs to occasionally rend every member of a random family limb from limb with his hands and teeth. The two of them became agents of Azalin. They were told to keep their loyalty secret, as they were a weapon Azalin was going to use to keep some of his factions in line.

Later, they were given the opportunity to recruit help. There was a test in which the two monster PCs and two non monster PCs tried to out a cult and recover the Tooth of Zhakata (a ritual dagger). I used a heavily modified 'Rite of Terror' for this. It lasted two sessions and one of the non monster PCs didn't make it for the second session, so only one PC was turned that day. She became a sort of monstrous cat person.

They are still kicking around Dementliue, creating enemies and making people wonder who exactly they are. I think I may put them on The Taskmaster's Leash next before bringing them back to Darkon. They have expressed how much they enjoy the opportunity to 'let go.' If everything moves forward though, things could get very difficult for them, which is of course half the fun.