Are Vamps and Werewolves too overdone?

[fivestyle]

Actually, vampires and the undead predate those Victorian novels by hundreds of years. Thousands in the case of African folklore.

Werewolves have just as long a historical/folklore tradition. The beserkers of Viking lore, the Romanian varcolak, similar beasts in almost every European tradition. Lycanthropy is a Greek word, and comes from the legend of Lycaon -- a man cursed with becoming a wolf after indulging in cannabalism.

Yeah there have been the stories about them all before those books but werewolves dont have any character like dracula where if someone mentions vampire you automaticlly think Dracula. It would be cool if Wolfman finally got a name.

[Cyclone Jack]

A couple of yers agao I came up with a 'is it a vampire test' for Ad&d.. went kinda like this..


Does:
 He/She speak french?

Wear Black?

Have hair impossibly long?

Obviously Bisexual?

Sigh with angst on uneccacary occasions?

Cant tell if he/she is a he/she or it? Double points for answer c: all of the above.

In a modern setting, have ridulous ammounts of firearms, or know someone who does?

Are they related to a well known historical figure?

LOL!

Speaking of Lamia and AD&D, a Lamia stomped a mudhole in my party while I was playing Troika's CRPG adaption of The Temple Of Elemental Evil. Beautiful game, but buggier'n a rural Florida trailer park.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

He/She speak french?

More or less.  I have lived in Quebec for five and a half years.

Wear Black?

All the time.  It goes with anything. Well, anything that is also black.

Have hair impossibly long?

To my waist; there's a picture around the seventh or eighth page in the "Pictures of You" thread in Mac's.

Obviously Bisexual?

What counts as "obvious"

Sigh with angst on uneccacary occasions?

They're all entirely necessary from my POV.

Cant tell if he/she is a he/she or it?

Guilty as charged.

In a modern setting, have ridulous ammounts of firearms, or know someone who does?

I fail on this one, thankfully.

Are they related to a well known historical figure?

Not overly well known, but sort of.

Also, I am fiercely photosensitive.

Conclusion: oh, dear.



[/quote]

[Velgron]

After some consideration I've dropped the typical fantasy setting and the typical fantasy character archetypes of the elves and etc...
Instead I am planning on setting the novel in a post apocalyptic future where all of the worlds super powers were overthrown simultaniously through hackers tapping into nuclear weapons systems, Disease Control Centers, and the like. The idea of country no longer exists and anarchy is the law of the land. The only place where there is hope and law and a decent standard of living is in Germany and Russia (sorry I just love the landscape and history of the two countries). The ruling figures of the two countries join forces and dump vast amounts of money into what they call the hammer and scythe project. The projects goal is to create an army that is totaly unstoppable. They use genetic engineering and nanotechnology to amp the reflexes and strength of those in the hammer unit of hammer and scythe. They also used genetic splicing to give them a monstrous appareance... the appearance of thick fur and razor sharp claws the knees back jointed and feet looking like paws...  making the men look more like Lupine beasts... even worse... Werewolves. The Scythe project has the same basic objectives but instead of infantry the aim is to make a perfect spec ops team. The same techniques were used except in addition to hieghtened strength and reflexes it heightened their intelligence. Genetic splicing was also used but there are no noticable changes except for the claws and grayish skin... that is until you looked upon thier backs and saw the massive wings... wings of a daemon. With this Germany and Russia would rise to dominate the rest of the world... that is until their creations ambitions outstretch that of themselves.

Thats basically what its going to be about... wondering what yall think

[ballplayer72]

sounds good, would need a lot of backstory.  aLSO what point of view are you telling it from?  Whos the main character?  Whats the main character?

[Ms Duck]

How about a pov of a character who is convinced of vampires, and sees them , in a world where no one else does? You could do a backstory for say the polices view where they are tracking down a dangerous manman who stabs people to death with a woodeden stake...

leave it open till the end ( or afterwords) wether the hero is crazy or not..

[Velgron]

The main character was going to be the projects weapons trainer who resigns his post after seeing the projects final results. He would also have help from some of the people from the town in which the hammer and scythe project was located. I realize alot of back story will be needed and I think following a police angle against him only to have the police see the light and then side with him or help him in some capacity would be pretty cool. I also thought to make the main character a Scythe infantrymen who kep most of his true humanity and does not agree with the leadership inside the group and wants to stop them. Maybe I could make a sort of mercenary group out of townsfolk. the weapons trainer. and a dissatisfied scythe project infantryman....

[The Corvidian]

Did anyone know that Anne Rice's sister, Alice Borchardt, is trying to do for werewolves what her sister did for vampires?

[fivestyle]

Great, now we'll get a bunch of kids moping around on all fours and covering themselves in fur

[Ms Duck]

Phil Phoglio (www.airshipbooks.com if ya dont know who im talking about) tried to 'sex up' zombies to be like anne rice vampires in a strip a few years ago. It was hilaroius.

The only difference between zombies and vampies is freel will:

Zombi " Brainss..."

Vampire " Bloood. But first, I shall eat this waffle."

[Lord Nedd]

Phil Phoglio (www.airshipbooks.com if ya dont know who im talking about) tried to 'sex up' zombies to be like anne rice vampires in a strip a few years ago. It was hilaroius.

The only difference between zombies and vampies is freel will:

Zombi " Brainss..."

Vampire " Bloood. But first, I shall eat this waffle."

Yay!  He and Kaja have a real gift for making each pane of their webcomics delicious.  I encourage everyone I know to check out their site and buy their dead-tree versions of their comics as they are all delicious!

Getting 'special syrup' for the waffle,

-LN

[blgarver]

Hmmm, sounds interesting Velgron.  I like post-apocalyptic stuff.  My WIP is sort of PA, but not to an extent that a bunch of people were wiped out. 

Good luck with the book!

[Matrix Refugee (formerly Morraeon)]

Great, now we'll get a bunch of kids moping around on all fours and covering themselves in fur

Owch, sounds like a bad emo version of Billy and the werewolves.

[Grogtard]

Late joining the discussion again.

But just my two cents.  Make sure you have characters who just happen to be vampires or werewolves.  Not vampires or werewolves who are characters.

[Ursiel]

I've gotten to where I hate vampire based books. It's overdone and most of the vampires these days are just emo/goth people with too much makeup and some kind of primal sex urge. Not to mention that a vast majority of the young teen (most likely female) are "raping" the Twilight series. but that is just my opinion of course.