Fear the Dark

Modern horror in a Realm of supernatural creatures, myths, and legends of things that go bump in the night.

Vampires and Werewolves stalk the night in a world of secrets. Unable to reveal themselves to humanity, they are the last line of defense against an enemy that is older than time.

“The greatest trick the Devil ever played was convincing the world he didn't exist.” This is our legacy, our mode and modus as we drift through time. Immortals of shadow, legends cloaked in darkness as we move among you. Your only awareness of us is as myth, legends passed from generation to generation or stories told to scare children. The only mark of our presence a chill down the spine. But we are real and we are among you. Even now. We have been known by many names in many places; Incubus, Vampyr, Nosferatu and now in the time of science we are called paranormal or supernatural. We are all different and all the same...
RAAGH! Don't listen to that garbage. It ain't like that at all. Well some is. Humans try their hardest not to know about us. We are hallucinations, blurs in the corner of their eye, or the effects of bad anchovy pizza and the smart ones, the survivors, keep their heads down. We don't draw attention if we can help it. Not the easiest thing for eight foot tall canine killing machines, but it’s a survival trait we learned after one too many of us fell to a mob of angry villagers. We are durable, not indestructible, and don't let the bloodsuckers fool you, a stake in the heart kills every damn thing and like the man said ‘if your head comes away from your neck, it’s over.’ Yea, we're huge, adrenalin soaked, hairy balls of pain that are scary as hell, but we are here for a reason. There are things out their in the dark that make us look like harmless pups and the bloodsuckers seem like a bad tapeworm. Old things. Evil things. We are all that stands between them and the humans and like it or not we both need humans.
The mutt speaks truth, we need cattle to feed our immortality and they need them to continue their line. Lycanthropy is a disease and it must be passed on to fresh stock or they die. We, however, need not pass on our Taint, but we must feed. The Old Ones represent a threat to all. They are from a time before time, call them demons, elder gods, titans, or nephilim, they are determined to upset the delicate balance of our control. As supernatural beings we are aware of them and they can sense us as well, and they know we are a threat. We are in the precarious position of fighting a secret war to save a people who wish to destroy us and allied with primitive mortals with limited self control and no manners.
Whoo Hoo! Bring it on!

QUIRK PACKAGES
The following are generic quirk templates that apply to Vampires and Lycanthropes across many legends. There may be other elements you wish to include for your specific game or Quirks that you wish to add for specific types, bloodlines, or what ever. These are only meant as a starting point, tailor them as you like.
Note that there is nothing about Vampires and wooden stakes here. Staking a Vampire has different effects based on the legend that you are basing the game on. For that reason the use of stakes is not included here. In general, a stake in the heart should kill anything.
Vampires
-30 Blood Addiction/dependence - Uncommon [-20], Damaging [-10]
-30 Sunlight Allergy - Very common [-20], Damaging [-10]
-30 Old Ones Enemy - More power [-20] Marked for death [-10]
-20 Hunger (Select an emotion that satisfies your hunting instinct, blood alone won’t do it.)
-30 Vampire - Dark Personal Secret [-30] you would risk loss of life or limb if your secret got out.
-20 Humanity Enemy - Less power [0] weapons, powers or hardware [-10] Marked for death [-10]
Required FX
None

Total Vampire Package Cost -160 Qi Points
Wolf
-30 Old Ones Enemy - More power [-20] Marked for death [-10]
-10 Silver Allergy - Uncommon [0], Damaging [-10]
-20 Berserker - In range [-20]
-30 Werewolf - Dark Personal Secret [-30] you would risk loss of life or limb if your secret got out.
10 Acute Senses - Smell, you can detect people or substances by scent alone. +1 to Tracking.
-10 Wolf Instincts - Outsider
-20 Humanity Enemy - Less power [0] weapons, powers or hardware [-10] Marked for death [-10]
Required FX
20 Were-Regeneration
You possess the regenerative powers of Lycanthropy. You begin to heal the turn after you take damage and every turn after that. This FX can ONLY BE TAKEN ONCE, Werecreatures heal at a constant rate. You are not able to heal wounds from silver or 'spiritual damage', i.e. any FX that are bought with Affects Intangible. This healing is rapid and an obvious tip off to humans of your true nature.

Total Werewolf Package Cost -90 Qi Points
ANGRY VILLAGER SYNDROME
Humans fear you. That fear comes from deep in their reptilian brain and from far back in their racial memory. When you exhibit your powers in front of them, it kicks in primitive instincts they can not resist. If they are in large groups they will attack. In small groups or alone they will scream, flee, find reinforcements, call the cops and come back with torches, wooden stakes, and silver bullets. Indiscriminate killing of the ‘Angry Villagers’ will eventually paint a path of blood right to your doorstep. And once the humans can find you, the Old Ones are not far behind…
VAMPIRIC HUNTING AND BLOOD LOSS
Humans and Vampires contain 10 pints of blood (Maybe as few as 8). Vampires need one pint of blood per day to survive and may go for as many as ten days between feedings, however blood alone will not sustain them.
Vampires also suffer from Hunger, the need to feed on the emotional energy of humans. Different Vampires require their victims to experience different emotions during feeding to sate their Hunger such as anger, fear, or joy. If a Vampire is feeding on blood alone for more than 1 day they must make a Will test against a difficulty equal to the number of days they have gone Hungry each time they are in the presence of a being they can feed on. If they fail, they will attempt to feed immediately, whether or not the situation will sate their Hunger.
Draining humans of too much blood can kill them, or force them to seek medical attention. Blood loss or Hemorrhaging is broken down into four classes by the American College of Surgeons’ Advanced Trauma Life Support;
* Class I Hemorrhage involves up to 15% of blood volume. There is typically no change in vital signs and fluid resuscitation is not usually necessary.
* Class II Hemorrhage involves 15-30% of total blood volume. A patient is often tachycardic (rapid heart beat) with a narrowing of the difference between the systolic and diastolic blood pressures. The body attempts to compensate with peripheral vasoconstriction. Skin may start to look pale and be cool to the touch. The patient may exhibit slight changes in behavior. Volume resuscitation with crystalloids (Saline solution or Lactated Ringer's solution) is all that is typically required. Blood transfusion is not typically required.
* Class III Hemorrhage involves loss of 30-40% of circulating blood volume. The patient's blood pressure drops, the heart rate increases, peripheral perfusion (shock), such as capillary refill worsens, and the mental status worsens. Fluid resuscitation with crystalloid and blood transfusion are usually necessary.
* Class IV Hemorrhage involves loss of >40% of circulating blood volume. The limit of the body's compensation is reached and aggressive resuscitation is required to prevent death.
American College of Surgeons (2008). Atls, Advanced Trauma Life Support Program for Doctors. Amer College of Surgeons. ISBN 978-1-880696-31-6.
At Class III, most humans will require medical assistance to survive. At Class IV, immediate transfusion is required to survive. A Vampire feeds at a maximum rate of 1 pint per minute. Once the human is drained of blood they are dead and nothing can bring them back. Except…
VAMPIRE CREATION
Vampirism is spread through the transfer of blood. In order to be a true vampire the victim must be totally drained before being given Vampiric blood. If the victim is not completely drained first, they simply become a Thrall, a servant of the vampire who is addicted to the Vampire’s blood without the penalties or powers of vampirism.
WEREWOLF CREATION
The spread of Lycanthropy is slightly different that Vampirism. It is spread through the bite but the victim must be left alive. Sound simple enough, just don’t bite anyone right? Wrong, when Lycanthropes fall into berserk rage they revert to their base instincts and begin attacking targets as quickly as possible, using every weapon in their arsenal. They will generally attack with claw, claw, bite, and then follow with a special maneuver if they have one available, such as the Furball Attack.
When they are trying to create progeny on purpose it is not that simple either. The bite must draw blood to be effective and the taste of blood can trigger their berserk rage. Test with Will versus a difficulty of 2 to maintain control and not turn your intended progeny into a sack lunch.
WEREWOLF SHAPE CHANGING
It takes 3 rounds or 18 seconds to Change, during which they are at a 0 defensive bid. Once shifted however most, if not all of the lycanthropes abilities are available, claws, toughened hide, and whatever powers they gain in the wolf form. Keep in mind that they have the ability to regenerate in human form as well as wolf and that this can not be suppressed. It is one of the primary giveaways that they are not human.