A New Pulse - First Bite WiP

Okay I think I got all the wayward gender issues.

@Fiogan

Thats a good suggestion and would fit the scene.

In regards to the “tropes” you’ll find out that there four types of vampires; purebloods which are the original vampires who have regained their sentience, ferals which are the ones most hunters face and believe are what “vampires” are, abnormals which are like ferals but have a unique trait (this can be anything from closer to human intelligence again or advanced regeneration) lastly are Ghouls which you can see in the fourth part (Farmhouse) and that is the skeletal vampire, these feed on flesh instead of blood and can instantly heal wounds by feeding but only when feeding. I have a word doc with the different types explained a bit better. (the names of the types is subject to change.

other things you will find out is that most vampires are linked to some sort of hive mind (apart from ghouls) and it is through this that purebloods can influence to a degree the weaker types.

@Doctor

The number choices were placeholders for questions to ask Alexis but I couldn’t decide on what to ask.

@Malebranch

I’ve read Attack on Titan but I wasn’t thinking of it when I thought of that bit. Basically most vampires can heal wounds their regeneration works off their blood and staking, decapitation and severing the spine all would result in the blood stop being pumped around to stop the regeneration.

@jcury

that was a mistake and it is now fixed.

@stsword

a repeating crossbow would be better and I will add something into the story to explain why (in the beginning anyway) you haven’t got a repeating crossbow, it is something you can get in the next part.

I guess you might not have enough money for one or something like that

I like this, I was wondering whether it was the book you had linked to us last year but reading the comments I have found my answer. Besides a couple of grammar and coding mistakes that are already listed -It’s perfect.

Are these vampires, to use a D&D term, “Always Chaotic Evil”?

@Shoelip

If I remember “Chaotic Evil” correctly then maybe yes. All they care about is sating their hunger. The how, when and why isn’t important only that it is done. Although purebloods are in more control, the hunger is still present. However, I would maybe say no in the case of ferals they are more predator seeking prey/force of nature than inheritedly evil if that makes sense?

@Nocturnal_Stillness
So if blood circulation is what governs regeneration ability, a salt imbalance should have the same effect as staking correct? As well as freezing of the blood, yes?

@Malebranche

Freezing the blood would work but a salt imbalance would be less likely as the regeneration and consumption of new blood would correct it. A simple way to think about it is imagine your body as six containers (head, chest, right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg) these containers are linked by tubes (circulatory system) if one container is damaged the blood within is consumed/converted to heal the wound (the bigger/more fatal the wound the more consumed) which empties the container and fresh blood is pumped round from other containers and taken from others.

Staking, decapitation and severing the spine causes the blood to become unable to replenish the blood it uses to try and heal.

So Ferals act like wild dogs or something then? Their human intelligence is buried under a sort of rage virus like hunger? Makes one wonder if it’s possible to “tame” them… (Oh, hint hint for future situation in the game!) What was the deal with the little girl one acting human after you stab her? Does being near death somehow revert them to human again? You mentioned something about “dawn”. And it’d explain a bit better why the cops aren’t the least bit concerned about why all the murder victims have completely inhuman mouths.

So what is if the purebloods have control are they evil? I mean, what is it that makes them different from humans who need to drink blood to live?

So what would happen if a major arterie got “gooked” and blocked, @Nocturnal_Stillness

@Nocturnal_Stillness I love the hive mind idea! Is it individual to the nests or is it universal (or universal among non-Ghoul types?) I find the ideas of ghouls being carnivorous vampires (… I mean, meat eating rather than blood drinking… are blood drinkers carnivores?) very fascinating. I can picture some in-world character thinking, ‘That explains SO much.’

Regarding the ‘original’ vampires, were they all created around the same time or in the same way? Will we get a chance in the game to learn about their origins?

@Shoelip

Correct, the hunger only goes when they are dying. So just before death they revert to human again. The vampire’s dawn is the moment they are human again moments before they die.

There is a future situation where someone is trying to tame/control them.

It is also worth noting that the majority of vampires encountered by hunters are ferals, so that is what all living hunters believe ALL vampires are like.

@Malebranche

The vampire would probably rip it open to unblock it (possibly during or just after feeding for the extra blood).

@Fiogan

It is generally universal but stronger within a nest and yes you will get to learn about their origins of at least one purebloods.

Sure, I’m just curious about the morality of this all. The Ferals are basically hostile animals that can’t be reasoned with. Maybe they can be tamed, maybe they can be contained, but they’ve lost all human reason to control themselves, and they apparently can’t be cured, so the safest way to deal with them is to kill them, and in a way it could be considered moral too since chances are most of the people they once were would be horrified with what they had become.

The purebloods seem to bring up a whole new moral quandry though. They aren’t insanely violent and whatnot, so what makes them evil? In Buffy they’re the soulless reanimated bodies of the dead inhabited by a demon. In a lot of things they’re just hand waved as being evil by default just because.

Is it simply the human desire to destroy anything that seems like a potential threat?

And assuming said arterie was the carotid arterie? The vampire would be between a rock and a hard place so to speak no?

By the way @Nocturnal_Stillness. If you’re interested in any suggestions for stuff you could add, I think it’d make sense to have an option to comment on Alexis’s rather brutal way of dispatching that first vampire. If you’re playing a more humane hunter at least, it seems like it might feel important to allow the vampires to experience their dawn.

are we going to have blade’s awesome weapons?

I like it! However, it does seem to switch from past to present tense a lot, and there are many times when a comma is used where a semi colon would be appropriate, especially when fighting the vampire in the ware house.

@Shoelip

Purebloods still have the hunger in them they can just withstand the urge a bit better. They are still driven to feed. Their sentience just allows them to plan their hunts. Lure victims to where they want.

It *is* possible for a pureblood vampire to refuse human blood and drink animal blood but it has side effects and weakens the quality of their healing (h-blood requires half what a-blood would need).

I’ll add a choice to comment on Alexis’s brutal manner of killing the vampire.

@Malebranche

Yes it would practically limit their regeneration to a one time deal. And future healing would start using the cells of the body eventually killing itself.

@jcury

As well as a repeating crossbow, machete/short sword other possibilities are a pseudo - gauntlet with a hidden blade (both normal and an electric variations)

@Samuel_H_Young

Yeah the tense is proving difficult. I can’t decide on whether to write the flashbacks in past tense or present tense (so you play like you are there as opposed to “remembering” what happened.)

@Nocturnal_Stillness
Oooooh, goodie! Can we get a “Gooker” weapon? Sorta like a tranq gun but instead of tranqulizers, it’s got gook bullets? Speaking of which do tranqulizers even work on vampires? Or would thier body just override it by forcing blood into the “container” (using your previous example) that got hit?

EDIT: Had an even more interesting idea! What if the gook was a delayed activation gook? Taking advantage of the fact that the heart is the central and only pump of blood, what if the gook only activated when the blood it sits in gets “recalled” back to the heart to be pumped once more?

There’s another mistaken gender label just after the flashback about the second vampire and Sebastian. Knight refers to a female PC as “Mr”.

Love this game! Heard about it from another thread! I’d love to play everything you ever made.