Poll of the Day > I don't get the appeal of vampires and werewolves

(+) Yeah! (+)

Especially for how popular they are in mainstream media.

If you mean pre-Twilight...

In which case it's basically forbidden fruit combined with counter-culture
---

I don't get how you don't get the appeal of vampires and werewolves. I mean, theyr'e kinda awesome. Have you not watched many movies or read many stories? From the Dark (2014) was pretty neat, especially because the vampires in that were harmed by most light sources.
---

I thought Dracula Untold was a baller movie

I mean comparatively speaking to other human-esque cryptids. There's tons of folklore out there.

If I had to guess they've become an overly familiar idea and that sort of thing works for the mainstream.

Penny Dreadful & Bram Stoker's Dracula

can't beat those
---

Near Dark, my favorite vampire movie...wait vampire western movie... Bill Paxton made that movie, especially in the bar scene. Finger lickin good.
---

NeoSioType posted...

I mean comparatively speaking to other human-esque cryptids. There's tons of folklore out there.

No matter what, something was going to occupy that slot. And keep in mind that vampires and werewolves evolved from their original folklore, so the vamps popular today bear little resemblance to the original creature and instead draw upon things that fans liked. Likewise, folklore werewolves are kinda boring compared to the beefed-up varieties seen in film, on tv, etc.

Plus it's not like other supernatural humanoids aren't popular. The mummy isn't even a mythological monster and countless films have been based on them. You have a lot of movies about aliens. Witches get movies and tv shows. And, hell, you have the whole zombie craze which -- at the moment, anyway -- is a lot bigger than werewolves.

myghostisdead posted...

Near Dark, my favorite vampire movie...wait vampire western movie... Bill Paxton made that movie, especially in the bar scene. Finger lickin good.

---

Zeus posted...

I don't get how you don't get the appeal of vampires and werewolves. I mean, theyr'e kinda awesome. Have you not watched many movies or read many stories? From the Dark (2014) was pretty neat, especially because the vampires in that were harmed by most light sources.

Is it not just UV light?
---

Theyre folklore. People love mythicism.
---

I'm not interested in them.
---

zebatov posted...

Zeus posted...

I don't get how you don't get the appeal of vampires and werewolves. I mean, theyr'e kinda awesome. Have you not watched many movies or read many stories? From the Dark (2014) was pretty neat, especially because the vampires in that were harmed by most light sources.

Is it not just UV light?

They didn't seem to like *any* light source. iirc, there were a few vampire POV scenes where it showed how badly light of any kind impaired their vision, but something like a headlight (which, afaik, is non-UV) was enough to cause them physical harm.

It's a pretty neat movie in general, although it's mostly a long game of cat-and-mouse which can wear a little thin at times.
---

I used to love the fact that the original version of Vampire: the Masquerade clearly expected every player to constantly bemoan their horrible, tragic fate, and mourn the loss of their humanity and having been turned into such a terrible monster, and constantly fight the urge to just commit suicide because they can't bear the angst and pain and despair.

Meanwhile, literally everyone I knew was more like, "Wait, so I get the ability to control minds, tear car doors off with my bare hands, get shot dozens of times, turn invisible, see in the dark, talk to animals, and magically transform into a wolf, and the only drawback is that I can't go out during the day, and have to seduce women every couple days so I can bite them and drink their blood? WHERE DO I SIGN UP?!"

On at least some level, vampires and werewolves are both power fantasies. On another level, vampires are a metaphor for sex and werewolves are a metaphor for the more violent aspects of our personality, and in both cases they tend to represent the free and unrestrained expression of the desires that we usually wind up having to suppress because society frowns on them.

They're the Mister Hyde to our normal Doctor Jekyll.


---

zebatov posted...

Is it not just UV light?

Depends on the setting, honestly. In some they're nocturnal monsters, so they tend to shy away from all bright light (which coincidentally justifies them wearing sunglasses at night so they can look kewl). In others, it's only UV light that hurts/repels them. In some, it has to be SUNlight explicitly, because the sun itself represents some sort of metaphysical or supernatural element that repels them, and it's not possible to build a science flashlight or flashbulb that you can use against them.

In some settings they're not even harmed by the sun, and most of the weaknesses described in myth either don't work the way people think they do, or are outright lies the vampires themselves spread to throw off potential vampire hunters.

The problem with drawing on vampire myths from around the world when you're writing a setting is that most versions of vampires don't necessarily agree with others.

And then that's not even getting into the weaknesses that people today don't like to use at all, like having vampires who are damaged by silver (it was originally their weakness, not werewolves'), or having them forced to OCD count every grain of rice or wheat that you throw at them, giving you time to run away (the reason why The Count exists on Sesame Street).


---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I used to love the fact that the original version of Vampire: the Masquerade clearly expected every player to constantly bemoan their horrible, tragic fate, and mourn the loss of their humanity and having been turned into such a terrible monster, and constantly fight the urge to just commit suicide because they can't bear the angst and pain and despair.

Meanwhile, literally everyone I knew was more like, "Wait, so I get the ability to control minds, tear car doors off with my bare hands, get shot dozens of times, turn invisible, see in the dark, talk to animals, and magically transform into a wolf, and the only drawback is that I can't go out during the day, and have to seduce women every couple days so I can bite them and drink their blood? WHERE DO I SIGN UP?!"

Ehhhh... the only kinda thing there is that you're comparing reluctant vampires to unreluctant aspirants. I assume that there are elements to vampirism which really suck (pun partly intended) so, despite the massive perceived perks (and relatively small drawbacks, *unless* you were turned at an unfortunate age), there could be grounds for misery.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

On another level, vampires are a metaphor for sex and werewolves are a metaphor for the more violent aspects of our personality,

They're both metaphors for sex. There are werewolf movies (perhaps most famously Ginger Snaps) and stories which literally use it as a metaphor for puberty, as well as a wealth of werewolf seduction (Angela Carter's "The Company of Wolves", etc)

And, to some extent, they're both metaphors for the darker elements of human nature (and the struggle therein)
---

Bram stoker tells a really great story.
---

Zeus posted...

Ehhhh... the only kinda thing there is that you're comparing reluctant vampires to unreluctant aspirants. I assume that there are elements to vampirism which really suck (pun partly intended) so, despite the massive perceived perks (and relatively small drawbacks, *unless* you were turned at an unfortunate age), there could be grounds for misery.

Yeah, but the point is, in 1e Vampire, White Wolf makes it seem like literally everyone who is Embraced is almost certainly going to view it as a terrible thing, and will spend the rest of their existence only barely managing to cope with it, never explicitly seeing it as a good thing. "WOE IS ME, I AM DAMNED!" is pretty much the default assumption.

Whereas I'd argue that most people, especially in the modern age where religion is ephemeral at best, would have very little trouble adjusting to the idea of being a vampire. Especially since, in this setting, you don't even have to murder people to feed on them (and support networks exist where you can literally just get blood from animals or blood banks anyway).

Sure, there are fringe cases, like a child Embraced who will never grow up, or someone who realizes they will be forced to watch their loved ones grow old and die while they live forever. But for the most part, the perks are pretty damned nice.

Later editions of the game sort of phased out the angst aspects, so an individual vampire might indeed be upset about being damned for all time, or lean fully into it and enjoy every moment of undeath. But it would be up to the player, and not the entire setting constantly telling them that they should be miserable, damn it.

1e actually had mechanics for feeling a wave of melancholic nostalgia for the beauty of a sunset you will never again see. Meanwhile, I don't think I've cared about seeing a sunrise for like 30+ years.

But I'd absolutely love being able to mentally command people to do my bidding. Or feel all my little aches, pains, and weaknesses from life fade away (including having my eyes heal and give me 20/20 vision for the first time in years) and basically turn into a Captain America-esque super soldier.

The extra vampire weaknesses you gain in that system aren't even really deterrents, since even as a human being staked through the heart or setting me on fire will kill me just as dead as it would a vampire.


---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

In some settings they're not even harmed by the sun, and most of the weaknesses described in myth either don't work the way people think they do, or are outright lies the vampires themselves spread to throw off potential vampire hunters

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurVampiresAreDifferent

ParanoidObsessive posted...

vampires are a metaphor for sex

ParanoidObsessive posted...

the reason why The Count exists on Sesame Street).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AXPnH0C9UA" data-time="
---