PDA

View Full Version : I need a name for the second most powerful vampire of my campaign



Myth27
2019-10-02, 06:35 AM
Is there an official Dracula “first officer”?

Corneel
2019-10-02, 06:54 AM
Nope, but the next most known vampire of 19th century gothic literature is Carmilla (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmilla) and if you want someone of the same general region as Dracula, you could have Countess Elisabeth (Erzsébet) Bathory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory).

Myth27
2019-10-02, 06:56 AM
Nice, she sounds important. Thank you !

Kardwill
2019-10-02, 09:06 AM
Yeah, Elizabeth Bathory is a nice name for a vampire, especially since it should ring a bell for some of the players (She's kinda famous for her serial murdering, blood bathing insanity, so players will know they're dealing with a major bad gal)

Another way is to find a "stage name" used by people that fear her. For example, in my Dresden campaign, the second-in-command of the Red Court is named "La Voce" because she's "the voice" of the big bad vampiric blood god buried under Boston, and also because she can control or kill people simply by talking to them.
So find a reason why your vampire is scary, or something striking from her look, and then use it as a nickname?

EndlessKng
2019-10-02, 11:59 AM
Another contemporary is Lord Ruthven, from Polidori's "The Vampyre." Predates Dracula in publication.

Alternatively, Count Orlok, the vampire who stood in for Drac in Nosferatu (which was an unauthorized adaptation of the novel).

Also there was a Varny the Vampire from the era but sounds like you want one that doesn't sound so silly...

Also, look up who Vlad Tepes III had as real life subordinates.

Particle_Man
2019-10-02, 12:18 PM
The vampire Kas was the servant of Vecna.

Imbalance
2019-10-02, 01:49 PM
Edward....

Cygnia
2019-10-02, 01:52 PM
Bob. Nobody will suspect him (which is a good thing for a right-hand officer to have) :smallbiggrin:

oxybe
2019-10-02, 02:37 PM
Kyle.

As you enter the room a slovenly-dressed man with a vapid stare and pasty skin is staring at a tasteless portrait of a woman. A foul smell emanates from the mountain of phials strewn across the floor, a sickly-sweet reminder of the honeyed fluid it used to contain. By the door, a hole seems to have been punched in the wall.

He slowly turns his head to look at you: "Sup brah? You got the potion or you here to mess with baddest mamma jamma in the tri-state area?"

As you draw arms, Kyle sprints forward at a blinding speed grabbing [party's most buff chararacter] by the neck in a vice-like grip and gleefully yells "CHOKESLAM! Woo Woo Woooooo~!" as your friend is violently slammed into the ground with inhuman might.

----------------------------

It's all about contrast.

Dracula has class, style and an air of dread hangs over those who cross him. He's smart, suave and stays 5 steps ahead of you in whatever you have planned.

Kyle is an annoying, tactless and frankly stupid **** you want to punch, made so much worse because he can backup his boasts with supernatural might.

Gallowglass
2019-10-02, 02:53 PM
Kyle.

As you enter the room a slovenly-dressed man with a vapid stare and pasty skin is staring at a tasteless portrait of a woman. A foul smell emanates from the mountain of phials strewn across the floor, a sickly-sweet reminder of the honeyed fluid it used to contain. By the door, a hole seems to have been punched in the wall.

He slowly turns his head to look at you: "Sup brah? You got the potion or you here to mess with baddest mamma jamma in the tri-state area?"

As you draw arms, Kyle sprints forward at a blinding speed grabbing [party's most buff chararacter] by the neck in a vice-like grip and gleefully yells "CHOKESLAM! Woo Woo Woooooo~!" as your friend is violently slammed into the ground with inhuman might.

----------------------------

It's all about contrast.

Dracula has class, style and an air of dread hangs over those who cross him. He's smart, suave and stays 5 steps ahead of you in whatever you have planned.

Kyle is an annoying, tactless and frankly stupid **** you want to punch, made so much worse because he can backup his boasts with supernatural might.



This is my new favorite NPC

gkathellar
2019-10-02, 04:12 PM
Kyle.

As you enter the room a slovenly-dressed man with a vapid stare and pasty skin is staring at a tasteless portrait of a woman. A foul smell emanates from the mountain of phials strewn across the floor, a sickly-sweet reminder of the honeyed fluid it used to contain. By the door, a hole seems to have been punched in the wall.

He slowly turns his head to look at you: "Sup brah? You got the potion or you here to mess with baddest mamma jamma in the tri-state area?"

As you draw arms, Kyle sprints forward at a blinding speed grabbing [party's most buff chararacter] by the neck in a vice-like grip and gleefully yells "CHOKESLAM! Woo Woo Woooooo~!" as your friend is violently slammed into the ground with inhuman might.

----------------------------

It's all about contrast.

Dracula has class, style and an air of dread hangs over those who cross him. He's smart, suave and stays 5 steps ahead of you in whatever you have planned.

Kyle is an annoying, tactless and frankly stupid **** you want to punch, made so much worse because he can backup his boasts with supernatural might.

Have an internet. You've earned it.

Mordante
2019-10-02, 05:44 PM
If you want vamps, look at World of Darkness. None did it better. Cain, brother of Abel was the first vampire. Work from there.

Cain cursed by God, blessed by Lillith.

Feddlefew
2019-10-02, 06:43 PM
Off the top of my head:

-Renfield finally becomes a vampire.

-Chad, Dracula's trust-fund kid, returned from [expensive and prestigious university] for a gap year.

-Whoever the quest giver is, or the carriage driver. They want to become the most powerful vampire.

Zhorn
2019-10-02, 10:17 PM
I was going to recommend some of the other vampires from Castlevania, such a Carmilla or Godbrand, but after reading the Kyle recommendation, that gets my vote.
Have all the underling vampires be the new blood in a rich kid sense, either good-for-nothing frat-bros or delusional ivy-league types. Mechanically play them as needed for the plot, being effectlive at their assigned posts, but characterwise display attitudes that tend to come from being bailed out too many times over their lives, so you can understand why they were GIVEN a command, but would never be able to TAKE command on their own.

Xuc Xac
2019-10-03, 02:33 AM
Dracula was the son of Dracul, so just go to the next step down.

Dracul --> Dracula --> Draculina

People might be expecting a girl because of the -ina ending, but Draculina is totally a dude. After all, his father isn't called Draculo.

Kardwill
2019-10-03, 02:53 AM
I was going to recommend some of the other vampires from Castlevania, such a Carmilla or Godbrand, but after reading the Kyle recommendation, that gets my vote.
Have all the underling vampires be the new blood in a rich kid sense, either good-for-nothing frat-bros or delusional ivy-league types. Mechanically play them as needed for the plot, being effectlive at their assigned posts, but characterwise display attitudes that tend to come from being bailed out too many times over their lives, so you can understand why they were GIVEN a command, but would never be able to TAKE command on their own.

I my campaign, "Chad" was named Candy. Looked and acted like a vapid party girl hooked at whatever chemical was "in" at the moment, was playfully flirty with anyone trying to murder her, but would casually shove your face through a concrete wall if you ever disrespected Phoebe (her sister) or "La Voce" (her boss).

My players managed to get rid of her last game, but she was a fun character. ^^

Kaptin Keen
2019-10-03, 06:44 AM
I've always like Vitriola for female villains. I know it's silly, but .. I just like it =)

Luckmann
2019-10-03, 02:22 PM
Alucard, obviously.

RedMage125
2019-10-03, 05:00 PM
Is there an official Dracula “first officer”?
The Castlevania series is best known for using Dracula as a BBEG.

In several games, there have been other vampires that worked with/for Dracula:
Olrox - In Synphony of the Night, he was a subordinate vampire that lived in the castle.
Brauner- In Portrait of Ruin, Brauner moves into the castle, but does not serve Dracula. After his defeat, Dracula is resurrected.
Carmilla- In Bloodlines (and a few other titles) she is a vampire that serves Dracula and seeks to resurrect him.
SPECIAL NOTE: In the Lords of Shadow game, both of the first 2 of these names are used for the lieutenants of the vampire lieutenants of the Vampire Lord of Shadow, Carmilla. In this series, Gabriel belmont himself becomes Dracula
Joachim Armster - In Lament of Innocence, he is a vampire imprisoned by the castle's current master, Walter Bernhard (this is prior to Dracula's rise to power, but Walter is the Dracula analogue in this game)

Of course, all this assumes you want to have Drac's lieutenant be a vampire.

If a werewolf, I would go with Cornell (again from Castlevania), or possibly some kind of undead creature that touts itself as Death. There's always the possibility that Drac's right-hand is someone who does not share his aversion to sulight, so as to be able to follow Drac's orders and do things when he cannot.


Alucard, obviously.

Well, going by Castlevania mythos, Alucard is the nickname of Dracula's son, real name: Adrian Farenheights Tepes. he chose the moniker "Alucard" (Dracula spells backwards) in order to symbolize his opposition to his father.

Calthropstu
2019-10-03, 09:54 PM
It's the main bad guy's midget twin. He is named Mini Me.
(Cue austin powers music)

Cybren
2019-10-04, 06:28 AM
What about Twoth

Hand_of_Vecna
2019-10-04, 01:41 PM
Carmilla is a great option as was said up thread it's the first known Vampire in the gothic horror mold. She's actually the third most powerful vampire in a Larp I used to run where Dracula is top dog. #2 is Giles de Rais. The name was used in the Castlevania series as a fake Dracula in one of the games which lead me to research the name.

The real Giles de Rais was a contemporary of Joan of Arc which chronologically places him to possibly be one of Dracula's oldest children if you're tying Dracula in with the historical figure. The best way I can sum up Giles de Rais is as a ridiculous comic book villian he went broke putting on an autobiographical play with over 100 speaking parts and 600 costumes. He also murdered children. Several times I told people "remember if you think I'm being to over the top, Giles de Rais is a historical figure who happens to be a cartoon villian."

RedMage125
2019-10-04, 04:16 PM
Carmilla is a great option as was said up thread it's the first known Vampire in the gothic horror mold. She's actually the third most powerful vampire in a Larp I used to run where Dracula is top dog. #2 is Giles de Rais. The name was used in the Castlevania series as a fake Dracula in one of the games which lead me to research the name.

The real Giles de Rais was a contemporary of Joan of Arc which chronologically places him to possibly be one of Dracula's oldest children if you're tying Dracula in with the historical figure. The best way I can sum up Giles de Rais is as a ridiculous comic book villian he went broke putting on an autobiographical play with over 100 speaking parts and 600 costumes. He also murdered children. Several times I told people "remember if you think I'm being to over the top, Giles de Rais is a historical figure who happens to be a cartoon villian."

Which Castlevania game used him? That doesn't ring a bell for me, but it's been years since I played some of them

Braininthejar2
2019-10-04, 04:23 PM
Of course, the name needs to be anagrammed for going incognito.

It has been a thing since Carmilla, which makes it older than Dracula.

(and today more people would recognize Carmilla than Mircalla, which is kind of funny)

Hand_of_Vecna
2019-10-05, 09:34 AM
Which Castlevania game used him? That doesn't ring a bell for me, but it's been years since I played some of them

The terrible N64 one.

RedMage125
2019-10-05, 01:12 PM
The terrible N64 one.

So, funny thing, I actually got an N64 when I was younger primarily just to play this game, because I have always loved Castlevania so much. I played it twice to get both endings. Both of those were well in excess of 20 years ago (the game was fairly new at the time).

So I had to look it up on the fan-wiki, and I only remember a vampire servant, so i guess he makes a good answer to the OP's question. Man, i did not remember him pretending to be Dracula.

That game is terrible.

Corneel
2019-10-05, 02:04 PM
Carmilla is a great option as was said up thread it's the first known Vampire in the gothic horror mold. She's actually the third most powerful vampire in a Larp I used to run where Dracula is top dog. #2 is Giles de Rais. The name was used in the Castlevania series as a fake Dracula in one of the games which lead me to research the name.

The real Giles de Rais was a contemporary of Joan of Arc which chronologically places him to possibly be one of Dracula's oldest children if you're tying Dracula in with the historical figure. The best way I can sum up Giles de Rais is as a ridiculous comic book villian he went broke putting on an autobiographical play with over 100 speaking parts and 600 costumes. He also murdered children. Several times I told people "remember if you think I'm being to over the top, Giles de Rais is a historical figure who happens to be a cartoon villian."Gilles de Rais died in 1440 (at about 35 years old), Vlad the Impaler was born at the earliest in 1428, so the chronology would be a bit off if you use the historical figures.

Slipperychicken
2019-10-07, 12:51 AM
If vampire #1 is just going by Dracula, you could call his lieutenant Vladimir

#2 could also be Alucard. Maybe make them related somehow, maybe special magic twins or something

Cain has been mentioned. 'Kane' or 'Kaine' are good alternate spellings for that

RedMage125
2019-10-07, 08:58 AM
If vampire #1 is just going by Dracula, you could call his lieutenant Vladimir

#2 could also be Alucard. Maybe make them related somehow, maybe special magic twins or something

Cain has been mentioned. 'Kane' or 'Kaine' are good alternate spellings for that

Name a vampire "Kain", and people aree going to think you're ripping off an entirely different video game series...

Slipperychicken
2019-10-07, 09:11 AM
Name a vampire "Kain", and people aree going to think you're ripping off an entirely different video game series...

If your players hear "Kain" and only think of one particular videogame series, then that's their problem

Imbalance
2019-10-07, 09:47 AM
If your players hear "Kain" and only think of one particular videogame series, then that's their problem

True. Having never played any of those games, whenever I hear that name I am inclined to think Strider.

RedMage125
2019-10-07, 04:07 PM
If your players hear "Kain" and only think of one particular videogame series, then that's their problem

I specifically said a vampire named Kain, did I not?

I can't think of one aside from the eponymous character of the Legacy of Kain games (Blood Omen 1/2, Soul Reaver 1/2, Defiance).