Wednesday, February 18, 2015

VtR: So what could a herd be?

A vampire's herd includes either a steady stable of humans or a varying array of humans who are consistently put into a vulnerable position.  The situation must be well-considered because overdrawing from the herd can put the individual members at serious risk which can affect everyone included.  Unfortunately for vampires there's only so many people who are either the right sort of people who would willingly enter their parlour or the sort of people who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Each type of herd can be affected by changes in society, i.e. herd from homeless shelters will improve if the homeless rates go up and will decrease if people start dying or starting rumours of a particular shelter.  Each form of Herd will have their own issues, as well, which need to be sorted out either by the vampire concerned.

Herd could be a group who are willing to give up their blood:
  • Religious Cult
  • Sexual fetishists (club members)
  • Groupies (if you're a performer)
  • Blood Donors
  • Secret Society with bloodletting ritual
Herd could be relatively aware of the wonderful necking potential:
  • Blood Dolls (blood bound or simply lovers)
  • Blood Donors
  • Romance (black book, cheating spouses, swingers)
Herd could be locations that allow good access to a variety of mobile yet accessible prey at night:
  • Caravan Park
  • Large Hospital
  • Large Low - Cost Hotel / Motel
  • Pub or Nightclub
  • Animal Shelters (low level) or Farms
  • Abbattoirs
  • Homeless Shelters
  • Brothel
  • Slum Housing

4 comments:

  1. Oh, groupies is fun. And nobody's going to believe it if they spill to the papers anyway, right?

    Another couple of ideas that'd be more challenging to maintain:
    * School / after-school club (distinctly creepy, unless for teenaged PCs)
    * Prison! Not your own, mind. You could access one as a volunteer visitor, basic skills tutor (all that illiteracy and innumeracy), maybe even a chaplain. Or a warder, of course.
    * Cruise ship. Not so great for a campaign, except that if you're in a port city, there's always stuff to do onboard when they dock. Maybe you can turn up as an entertainer, engineer or cleaner and then get access to the passengers - especially if you have arrangements with a crew contact.
    * Airline. There's always someone keen to kiss a stewardess when the lights go out, right?
    * Alternative therapy clinic. It's hard for people to run off screaming if they're up to their neck in sand or covered in warm stones. Then a spot of hypno and you're home free. Also offers the option of bleeding from somewhere other than the neck, to minimise visibility.
    * Lorry park. A lot of drivers only stop in the dark anyway, and they're very mobile.

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    1. The docked cruise ship idea is actually a very good one, as it's unlikely someone else will get much of a chance at them.

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  2. One I've seen in game, in the Bloodlines PC game and in the film Midnight Son - backdoor access to donated blood. The comic After Daylight adds the suggestion of blood which is going out of date and will otherwise just go to waste.

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    1. Yep, and what I particularly love about this one is it shows how vampires preying on humans is never a particularly good thing. The Red Cross is always strapped and needing more blood just to cover medical needs, so if you tap into that, you strain an already overstrained system. Perfect touch of horror without having to beat them over the head about it.

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