# Character Creation Challenge 2024: Day 16 - Vampire: Alone in the Darkness :: Francis DuBois, Vampire Con-Man
tags: #thoughts/CharacterCreationChallenge/2024 #game/rpg/vampire-alone-in-the-darkness
> [!quote] [[Character Creation Challenge 2024]]
>
> ![[Character Creation Challenge Image.png]]
It wasn't enough for me to do just one vampire game this year. No, I knew that somewhere buried in my collection was at least one other solo-focused tabletop RPG with a very clear and aggressive inspiration from **[[Vampire - the Masquerade|Vampire: the Masquerade]]**.
And here it is, in its brand-new remastered printing, **[[Vampire - Alone in the Darkness|The Vampire: Alone in the Darkness]]**. (I suspect that they had to do a bit of editorial shuffling on the title which was originally **Vampire: Alone in the Darkness** to avoid good old trademark lawyers. Possibly with legitimate reason.)
![[The Vampire - Alone in the Darkness Remastered (cover).jpg]]
You can be forgiven for thinking that this game is very much a reference to demons driving **[Christine](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085333/)**. I preferred the original cover.
![[Vampire - Alone in the Darkness (cover).jpg|200]]
There aren't a whole lot of fiction-forward narrative solo/co-op/guided games which integrate a hexcrawl-like mechanism… But this is one of them. In the process of gameplay, you assemble your city from hexagonal tiles which have different effects and opportunities.
We may get there. We may leave it for sometime in the future. Who can say? We *are* possessed by demons.
Let's go!
## Chargen
Vampires are literally the manifestation of a Shadow Demon within the dead flesh of a corpse. The mechanisms and motivations for that spiritual transference vary, but typically it involves death by violence. Not necessarily at the hands of a vampire. They form a small, hidden society within normal human society as we know it, with a relatively loose hierarchy. Vampires gather into Legions which roughly encompass the undead population of a city. With a in a Legion, a few older vampires referred to as Tribunes generally keep the peace as lawgivers and political connections, often the eldest member of each Caste in the Legion. Politics and persuasion among the dead are a rough sort of justice – the law of the jungle. The strong make the rules and the weak occasionally challenge them, sometimes even successfully. It rarely rises to the level that one could even refer to it as "early feudalism," but has more in common with a pack of predators being led by the most vicious.
Sensibly, we start with the person that they *were* rather than the monsters they *are*.
### Humanity
I find it interesting when a game skips that whole *"come up with a concept for who you are"* thing and jumps straight into *"start sticking some numbers on things."* I'm not mad at it, it just makes me laugh every time I see it. It's effectively saying *"look, this might be interesting to you later but as far as we are concerned? It doesn't matter. Go nuts."*
So that's what we're going to do. No concept except as necessary purely to make decisions about what we are doing in the moment.
#### Statistics
A very tight set of statistics this time (though that opens up just a little bit in a moment). *Body, Presence, Mind*. Physical, social, mental. Does that feel familiar to anybody else? Because it feels familiar to me.
I think I'd like to go with a character who is manipulative in that "fast talk", "kind of plastic" kind of way. The kind of guy who fake-likes everybody and everybody fake-likes. He's clever enough to get himself into trouble and sometimes his mouth likes to write checks his ass can't cash.
| Stat | Value |
| ---- | ---: |
| Body | 2 |
| Presence | 4 |
| Mind | 3 |
That takes us straight into *Hit Points*, *Stance*, and *Willpower*. If your first intuition was that effectively these are hit points for your body, morale, and – well – willpower, you would be absolutely correct. They're just the stat +5.
| Stat | Value |
| ---- | ---: |
| Hit Points | 7 |
| Stance | 9 |
| Willpower | 8 |
That said, there's an explicit bit tucked away here in the middle of the Statistics section which strikes me as a little bit – unusual.
![[VAitD Submission.jpg]]
It's fairly unusual to find such explicit dominance/submission mechanics in a game, particularly one in which social rank is usually portrayed as more negotiated. It's almost refreshing.
Want to dominate someone? Attack their Stance with your Presence. It's an elegant solution to the question of how do you survive in a society of predators but I find it a little strange that it's tucked here into Statistics instead of in some more mechanical discussion of social conflict.
Nevermind, because we are off to…
#### Skills
We get two, they give +2 to Statistic checks, and away we go.
| Skill | Value |
| ---- | ---- |
| Manipulation | +2 |
| Subterfuge | +2 |
You know what? I'm going to lean into that whole con man concept.
> *Manipulation:* Your character can influence people’s emotions, directing them to a specific behavior. Whether through seduction, deception, or intimidation, you can get information or influence people to act according to your goals, even if it goes against their will (in a reasonable way).
>
> *Subterfuge:* Your character is an expert in situations that require stealth and discretion. Thanks to that, you can hide and disguise yourself, move silently, pick locks and pockets, and crack safes without being noticed.
It's not that he's a thief. A sneak thief would do similar things but – he's a con man. He's good at getting in and out of situations. He knows where to be to skirt the edge of the security camera. Knows how not to be followed back to his cheap hotel room. It's a useful talent.
### Vampire
There's nothing here in character generation about what causes your character to *become* a vampire. The only example we have so far is in the opening fiction, in which the protagonist has her brains dashed out by a rock by a potential rapist and – wakes up to find all three of them eviscerated and very dead.
This is probably a good reason to read the whole of the book before you start character generation, or for those who are *creating* tabletop RPGs, to recognize you probably ought to frontload important information about who characters are and how they turn into them before the player needs that information.
I know, I know. *"Lex,"* you say, boggled at my stupidity, *"that would probably require that half the book be before character generation if we followed your directions!"* Yes. Basic mechanics, a description of the world, the mechanisms that lead to characters coming into existence, and then – only then – character generation rules, when the player can make reasonable decisions if they're reading through the book in order.
It's crazy talk!
Regardless we have to pick a…
#### Caste
Caste. Clan. I think you know what the drill is here. We've got six to choose from and they are *almost* stereotypical. There are a few unusual choices in there.
> - *Adze:* Powerful and harmful demons attracted to warm and moist regions who spread dangerous illnesses to their victims.
> - *Baital:* Inhabitants of remote and pastoral areas, corruptors of faith and mysticism.
> - *Gaki:* Discrete and sadistic entities who kill in silence, usually choosing to live in the East.
> - *Ghul:* Monstrous creatures hiding in the shadows to corrupt everything approaching them.
> - *Lilitu:* Sensual and lascivious demons who like to tease their victims and devour them amid lust.
> - *Vyrolakos:* Combative demons with almost uncontrollable rage and despise for human life.
When I said "almost stereotypical," I meant it – except for the Gaki, who are a clear reference to Asian vampires, and the Baital, who on first blush remind me of the Baali, and we all know how I feel about the Baali.
Let me flip through the one page spread for each of these and decide on who we are.
![[VAitD Baital.jpg]]
I'll say this for the game, half of the Castes are international in scope and the other three are very much grounded in classic vampire tropes: *the seducer, the hideous, and the violent*. The manifestation of those particular archetypes might be fairly **VtM**-tinged, but they're making a good stab at it.
It's also worth noting that these are *not* misunderstood monsters. These are not people trying to make up the best of a bad situation. These are bad people who started before they were inhabited by a Shadow Demon and the beast inside just magnifies what's already there.
I appreciate the unrepentant nature.
Predictably we're going to go with Baital – because it fits our very loose back story and just sounds cool. Plus the Weakness of the Caste brings to mind an interesting possibility.
An obsession with riddles, secrets, and enigmas? Compelled to burn their own Willpower if they fail a Mind check, just to know? To the point of their own destruction? I think I know a guy.
Being a con man is awfully close to being a reporter, and I can think of few more characters who would be obsessed with learning every little thing in putting together the big picture more than The Question so – The Question if he were the one more likely to be doing the torturing? This could work out pretty well.
He also gets a bit of a stat boost as a result of being taken by the Shadow Demon, so let's work that out…
#### Stats
| Stat | Value |
| ---- | ---: |
| Body | 2 |
| Presence | 5 |
| Mind | 4 |
| Stat | Value |
| ---- | ---: |
| Hit Points | 7 |
| Stance | 10 |
| Willpower | 9 |
Not only is this a man who can convince you that you need ice when you live in the Arctic, he has the presence that you'll thank him for it afterwards. Which is kind of terrifying, in and of itself.
#### Dark Gifts
Vampires always need some sort of magical power granted by their nature, otherwise how can we even prove that we're playing a game about vampires written after the mid-90s? Absolutely required.
We get to start with three powers chosen from *Darkness of the Soul*, *Demonic Prowess*, and *Mental Torment*. If you were on the fence thinking that maybe these guys weren't so bad after all? Yeah, they're that bad. These are all bad people. Monsters.
So let's see what's on the menu…
Oh, we are absolutely going all in on the obsessive secret-finder angle here.
First, two gifts from *Darkness of the Soul*:
> - *Dark Fusion:* The Vampire manages to seamlessly blend themself into a shadow of a bigger size than them. This makes the Vampire almost impossible to detect (only the Senses of Darkness and Mind Reading powers can see the Vampire in this state). If the Vampire wishes to move within the shadows, they will have Advantage on the Subterfuge checks. In case of failure, the Vampire reappears.
>
> - *Senses of Darkness:* The Vampire can see perfectly in the dark, perceiving the presence of other Vampires as if the shadows surrounding both connected them. All Investigations and Subterfuge checks in shaded areas will receive Advantage.
You mean I can lurk in the shadows, hide in the darkness, and be undetected as people go about their filthy, profane business and I watch? Yes! Absolutely useful.
Plus perfect sight in darkness, so all of those things are always visible to me without effort? Here we go, here we go, now.
While we're at it, let's pull something from *Mental Torment*:
> - *Stealing Memories:* The Vampire makes a Mind (Subterfuge) check, and in case of success, they can enter the target’s mind and steal specific pieces of knowledge that the person has (their name, for example), creating a mental gap that lasts for one night. The amount of Power Bonus obtained on the roll will allow the duration of the memory theft to extend by one night for each point.
You know, why don't I just lurk in the dark, watch your disgusting doings undetected, then step in and suck out whatever information in your brain that I want for a couple of days? How does that sound?
I'm starting to feel a little excited, myself.
#### Age
Right. Age is a thing. All newly created vampires are called Young but the longer you survive, the more the Shadow Demon influences your flesh, the stronger your Weakness becomes, but at least you don't have to worry about getting old and dying.
When you've collected 100 XP, you're considered an Adult. When you hit 300 XP, you're an Elder.
That's it. As far as character creation goes, that seems to be the lot.
### Scenario
![[VAitD Scenario.jpg]]
I did mention that this game has elements of hexcrawl, did I not? It's unusual in that you can actually pick the tiles you want to lay out for the area around your personal haven, the place you sleep and where you may hunt nearby.
This is a lot more cunning than it might look offhand. In the process of play you have to transit across the hexes between places you are and places you want to be, and at every step along the way you can have an event, an encounter, something can happen to you, you can get engaged with things. That's part of how this game builds up the solo experience.
It's really quite clever.
I also appreciate that if you don't want to construct your city from tokens on your own, there are a couple of premade ones. One of which is *New York*, which is boring as shit and has been done to death – and undeath. But the other is *Saint Augustine, Florida*, which is an absolutely amazing place to consider as a haven for vampires. The summers suck for sunlight but the winters aren't too bad because they don't get cold enough for people not to be out and about, and who doesn't want to go hunting for blood in the middle of a hurricane? That sounds amazing!
![[VAitD Augustine.jpg]]
Despite there being weapons, armor, and equipment in this game – it's not a part of character generation. Is that important? You are a corpse animated by a truly destructive spirit which needs to feed on blood to survive on a regular basis. You think getting your hands on a gun is going to be hard?
Take what you want.
Where's that sheet?
## Character Sheet
![[Francis DuBois, Con-Man Vampire (sheet).jpg]] ![[Francis DuBois, Con-Man Vampire (portrait).jpg]]
## Exunt
There he is, in all his glory: Francis DuBois, con man, finder of secrets, knower of things, drinker of blood. Don't let the linen suit fool you – he's probably sitting in the shadows right behind you watching you do your dirty deeds right now.
Sometimes letting the game mechanics lead you into a concept can be interesting. I would not have ended up with this character as it is without the ["fruitful void"](https://rpgmuseum.fandom.com/wiki/Fruitful_void) of the things that the mechanics don't cover. Or at least don't cover clearly.
Oh, there is a fleeting mention to how much money you start with. *Mind × $2,000* – which seems a little scant but there are definitely ways to earn money in the game.
If you are excited about this or at least amused, feel free to go pick it up and check it out yourself. It is a real export of Brazil (which may explain their appreciation of Saint Augustine, now that I think about it.)
As for myself, I have some grains of rice I need to go count. Out!