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View Full Version : Completely Serious Antagonist Idea: Vampire Pumpkins



Leliel
2009-06-04, 06:40 PM
Firstly, stop laughing.

Secondly, I came across this article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_pumpkins_and_watermelons) in Wikipedia, in which Balkan folklore states that certain rotten fruits will become bloodthirsty if left out for too long.

Besides making me marvel at how far people will go to avoid forswearing cheap vodka, this gave me one of my patented Maverick Ideas.

Of course, I don't have any clue what to do with this idea beyond the monster concept, so I ask you:

What story hooks do you foresee coming from this?

Hat-Trick
2009-06-04, 06:45 PM
People mysteriously disappearing in the vegetable patch, people dying by blood loss as they sit down for dinner, disappearance of crops as if they just rolled away.

kjones
2009-06-04, 06:46 PM
I don't think you understand what "completely serious" means.

This is like reverse Bunnicula.

OracleofWuffing
2009-06-04, 06:53 PM
It's... It's vampire pumpkins. Whether or not the story is serious is going to happen in the execution of the story, rather than the planning. I can see a families of farmers suddenly becoming disinterested in daytime activities, and the market having a sudden glut of pumpkins go either really serious or really comical. Come to think of it, the cartoon, Courage the Cowardly Dog, does this sort of silly idea and makes it dead serious very frequently.

...Just don't invite the PCs to a pumpkin-carving competition. Then somebody's going to make the obvious Soviet Russia joke.

Set
2009-06-04, 06:54 PM
The 'old ways' are respected by the surly townsfolk of the farming village of WillKillYouForFood, and every spring, a sacrificial lamb is brought out to the fields and it's throat cut, offering up it's life to the land, so that the crops will grow thick and lush. (That's what happens during the day, anyway. Rumors have it that visitors to the town may disappear at night and meet a similar fate...)

But, some bold adventurers put a stop to that nonsense, burning down half the village in the process of not getting themselves sacrificed to the 'harvest god.'

One small problem ensues in the following years, as the community has now 'abandoned the old ways,' but the 'old ways' haven't abandoned the community. Turns out there was a very real reason for the bloodletting, and now the entity long forgotten and buried beneath the community is growing angry that the townsfolk have forgotten the ancient pledge they made when they settled these lands centuries ago. It reaches up through the roots of the local plantlife to express it's displeasure, and people find that when someone in the area of the fields suffers a cut, the bleeding will not stop, as if they had the bleeding sickness. Small animals disappear, and are found wrapped in pumpkin vines, drained of blood and dessicated, as if they had been there for months. The pumpkins themselves grow fat and have a deeper hue than normal, less orange and more ruddy.

Come the harvest festival, when the first pumpkins are cut open, blood pours forth, people scream and the scarecrow-like 'harvest god' (stats as a Treant) pushes from the earth to punish those who have betrayed the old covenant.

Yes, I watch Supernatural. Why do you ask? :)

Ravens_cry
2009-06-04, 07:08 PM
I am reminded of this (http://www.strangehorizons.com/2004/20041025/pumpkin-f.shtml).
If it's anything like it, Vampire Pumpkins are the least of the players worries.

RTGoodman
2009-06-04, 07:22 PM
Well, first I think you're playing the wrong game (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=20710&it=1&filters=0_0_10030). :smalltongue:


In all seriousness, though, don't call them vampire pumpkins. You can run with the idea (and an adventure where PCs have to face off against man-eating plants is a solid idea), but if you use those particular words, the mood'll probably shift from scary to silly in just a couple of seconds.

Leon
2009-06-04, 08:41 PM
Been reading Digger (http://www.diggercomic.com/?p=332)?

Ellye
2009-06-04, 08:50 PM
I can't really see it working out very well as a typical D&D antagonist, since a pumpkin can't really be a impressive challenge. Maybe if it gain a few psionic powers.

It could actually be a quite interesting monster in a terror/mystery RPG. I doubt the characters trying to solve the mystery will ever suspect of the vegetables before it's too late. :smallbiggrin:

TheThan
2009-06-04, 08:56 PM
This thread reminds me of attack of the killer tomatoes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfm3_Bminhg)

in fact I'm surprised no one has mentioned it before now.

Llama231
2009-06-04, 08:56 PM
The great holy vampire pumpkin has lost his ballon! Go find it before he EATSYOURHEADOFF, SUCKSUPALLYOUBLOOD, KILLSYOUTODEATH, ANDKILLSUAGAINFORTHEHECKOFIT!

Seriously:
What context are you using this in?
What sort of adventure? Levels, campaign setting, plotline, whatever?
Is this a minion or a boss monster?
Is it intelligent?
Is it undead?
Is it really a vampire or does it just act like one?
It drinks blood because it cannot photosynthesize, as the sunlight kills it?
How large is it?

Alternatively: Animated Object Template+Vampire Template on a pumpkin.

Maybe it was an awakened pumpkin, and the a vampire got it?

Kyeudo
2009-06-04, 09:31 PM
The 'old ways' are respected by the surly townsfolk of the farming village of WillKillYouForFood, and every spring, a sacrificial lamb is brought out to the fields and it's throat cut, offering up it's life to the land, so that the crops will grow thick and lush. (That's what happens during the day, anyway. Rumors have it that visitors to the town may disappear at night and meet a similar fate...)

But, some bold adventurers put a stop to that nonsense, burning down half the village in the process of not getting themselves sacrificed to the 'harvest god.'

One small problem ensues in the following years, as the community has now 'abandoned the old ways,' but the 'old ways' haven't abandoned the community. Turns out there was a very real reason for the bloodletting, and now the entity long forgotten and buried beneath the community is growing angry that the townsfolk have forgotten the ancient pledge they made when they settled these lands centuries ago. It reaches up through the roots of the local plantlife to express it's displeasure, and people find that when someone in the area of the fields suffers a cut, the bleeding will not stop, as if they had the bleeding sickness. Small animals disappear, and are found wrapped in pumpkin vines, drained of blood and dessicated, as if they had been there for months. The pumpkins themselves grow fat and have a deeper hue than normal, less orange and more ruddy.

Come the harvest festival, when the first pumpkins are cut open, blood pours forth, people scream and the scarecrow-like 'harvest god' (stats as a Treant) pushes from the earth to punish those who have betrayed the old covenant.

Yes, I watch Supernatural. Why do you ask? :)

That is an awesome idea.

derfenrirwolv
2009-06-04, 09:32 PM
Use assassin vine.

Add the ability Pumpkin bomb: Can throw a pumpkin like a tanglefoot bag.