Saturday, December 8, 2012

Three Decades in Blood: Buffy the Vampire Slayer


I was an avid fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer from its first episode back in 1997, its a series which has had a monumental impact on pop culture and genre shows on television. Joss Whedon took classic mythology of vampires and paired it with his own interesting take on the cosmos, one populated by demons and split across many different dimensions. In Vampire the Requiem the dissolution of morality is paramount to the game. Vampires in Buffy have none, they're walking shells animated by the demonic essence coursing through their veins. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG by eden studios is an excellent game in its own right and has a wonderful section playing in the buffyverse.

Demon Born
Vampires in Buffy are not human, they have vestiges of humanity to be sure quirks of taste, but at best they're a dark reflection of the human they've killed to exist at worst they're amoral agents of evil trying to usher in the end of days.  Some gather in groups or at the foot of a particularly strong vampire, all feel the siren song of hellmouths.

Systems:
Clan
Do not have a Clan
Blood Potency
The maximum limit of a Vampire is 6. Ancient primordial vampires, called the Turok-Han, may have a Blood Potency as high as 8.
The Embrace
Vampires sire exactly as in Vampire the Requiem however the transformation takes 24 hours and usually involves the childe digging themselves out of their own graves.
Ghouls & Blood Ties
The Vampyr cannot create Ghouls or establish Vinculum, does not have any of the advantages of Blood Sympathy, perform or be subjected to Diablerie.
Disciplines
Can utilize Celerity, Vigor, Resilience. They begin with Auspex of 1 and 3 additional points of to spread between those 3 disciplines.  Additional disciplines are purchased individually can be purchased individually at Discipline rating x 14 at Storytellers discretion. 
Physiology & Torpor 
Vampires do not suffer from Torpor save for when they are deprived of blood losing one permanent point from a mental attribute for every 3 months in this condition. Appear as though they had spent a point of blood to achieve the blush of health (with all that implies) they can also become intoxicated through normal consumption of drugs or alcohol. They do not suffer from frenzy.
Monstrous Visage ­­
A vampire’s features shifts whenever she makes use of her fangs, her eyes become yellow and predatory, and her face becomes twisted and bestial, it costs a single willpower to affect this change and the transformation is instantaneous, its lasts for the duration of the scene. Vampires with a Blood Potency of 5 or more can change at will and remain in this state indefinitely, furthermore they gain a permanent -1 to all social rolls related to mortals as they shift closer to the demon within. At Blood Potency of 6 they can no longer return to a human visage and their body warps in some considerable fashion increasing the penalty to -3.
Sunlight
Sunlight exposure should be downgraded. Only Direct Sunlight is ever applied. A vampire may attempt to avoid sunlight exposure (whether through hiding under a blanket, painting a car's window in advance, or diving into shadows) with an exceptional success at a penalty equal to 1 + damage from exposure.
Final Death
A vampire staked by wood immediately meets final death bursting into ash. Signature characters should use the "hard" staking rules on pg.163 of World of Darkness Armory Reloaded, whereas mooks and other minor antagonists should use the "easy" staking presented on the same page.
Vampires cannot be killed by traditional methods (bashing damage, or lethal damage converted to aggravated) if damage reaches 'death' additional points of damage are ignored, the exception being complete destruction (such as by an explosive). They are only vulnerable to death from fire, sunlight, beheading, or holy water.
Banes
These can be found in The Danse Macabre and are identical save where changes have been listed below.
Faded Reflection Pg.193, the reflection is permanently absent.
Repulsion pg. 194, Specifically by religious symbols. The difficulty is equal to 5-Blood Potency, furthermore if physically touched by the object the character takes 1 point of lethal per turn. 
Uninvited pg.195 A character cannot enter into a home unless invited.
Vulnerability, severe pg. 194, Holy Water.
Inevitable Martial Arts Skills
Buffy vampires gain 3 points in any Brawl based Fighting Style Merit.
Morality
Vampyrs do not possess morality, they do possess a virtue but it is a veneer masking the evil within, they gain no mechanical benefit from its use. They gain willpower as normal from the Vice, particularly wicked acts of Vice can refresh a character's Willpower completely.
What about the Soul?
A Vampire who regains there soul immediately gains a Morality score equal to the rating they possessed before the Embrace, they must immediately roll for Degeneration for greatest sin they committed while without. Furthermore this adds a permanent +2 bonus to resist possession as they already possess a demon within.
Storytelling
Vampires of Buffy the Vampire Slayers are not brooding romantics (except the one's with souls) or misunderstood creatures of the night, see: Lie to Me, these are the lowest common denominator of evil. The existence of even a single vampire like this could be a boon to both the Lancea Sanctum and Beliel's Brood. Sanctified would most likely regard these Vampyr as demonic perversions of God's Holy Monsters. The covenant might move to capture one to torture dark magic from it, or to keep it on display as 'proof' of the Devil's work in the world of man.  Beliel's Brood might take them as signs of the apocalypse, messianic beings returned from hell, or just another kindred spirit. To really mix things up instead of strictly relying on disciplines maybe these vampires can garnish vestments from The Inferno or be Possessed in their own right, the result of a Bloodline where the very Vitae is suffused with demonic essence.
Vampire the Masquerade is rife with potential for exploring stories of alternate lines of kindred, perhaps like the Kueijin these vampires descend from a different order all together? And what happens to the fragile peace of the masquerade when a new Sabbat ritual literally vanquishes all the Humanity a vampire has which surely nothing to do with rumors concerning the Baali. Perhaps the Book of Nod is just another lie of Kindred society to disguise the awful truth of what came before them, and what will surely come again.  Another option can be to enmesh these new vampires with the rise of the Fallen or the coming of Gehenna, as the Final Nights approach the Embrace brings about only death and true damnation.

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