Interesting FoG possibility - Voishlacka

[caux]

Hello, this is my first post, I hope I'm doing it right. I've been DMing a GC (2nd edition) campaign to a bunch of old school players. We're at FoG right now, and in the last session the players entered the spooky Voishlacka church that can turn you into a vampire. I think I did a pretty good job at keeping the players on the edge of their seats, it took them 8 rounds of very tense decision making on their part to ignore the screams of pain and the blood flowing from the coffin to actually hack it down and free the PC right before he turned int a vampire. So, after that they were left with the feigned death PC, and that was very shocking for them, considering the PC was with them from the get go, and all of my players are very attached to their PCs.. The other characters took the corpse to the river nearby and washed it, and the priest was doing his last blessings on his body when the feigned death PC woke up without being able to open his eyes because of the light and felt the sunlight burning his skin.

So, now everyone, including the player controlling the PC, think he is now a vampire. The PCs never actually met one (well, they have, but they didn't know it was a vampire) in the campaign, so they only know conflicting stories, and they don't know what to believe. Now, I know that according to the adventure the PC didn't actually become a vampire, and it'll wear off in a few days, but the player started doing some thinking and he is certain he will be able to control the vampire character, in a Anne Rice kind of way where he would be able to feed from animal blood, and would be able to avoid the power checks and not lose the character. I doubt it, and I'm pretty sure he'll lose it in the long run.

Now I'm torn: Should I just go on with how the adventure goes, not risk losing the character but throw away a possibly very interesting roleplay opportunity or should I just go with it, consider the character is now a vampire, give the character lots of penalties for not drinking human blood (and thus somehow keep the balance), take away some control from the player (but risk losing some control myself)? What do you guys think? Sugestions would be good!

[Strahdsbuddy]

First of all, welcome to the boards. I look forward to hearing about your campaigns and theories.

Feast of Goblyns is a big book. You don't have to hurry to the end. I would say any opportunity to develop character trumps the words on a page. This is YOUR adventure now, and if you're lucky you've got players that are anxious to expand their parts in it. Heinfroth and Daglan will wait, see where things go.

The only danger I see is your fledgeling vampire becoming the "star" of the campaign, which might make the rest of the players feel inferior. Remember his condition is really only the result of a few bad rolls, he isn't being rewarded for anything. Keep in mind, he is a fledgeling for the first century; think of the vamps that just got turned the night before on Buffy; they don't really last long. Your character could get himself killed if he's not careful. He should have a whole lot more to fear!

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I would go with a middle ground. Don't throw out your player's desire to play a reluctant vampire, but don't go ahead and give him the whole vampire package of powers and weaknesses either. Make it more of a "struggle with the darkness within" plot, where he gets some small amount of power (with a weakness to balance) and has some sort of vampiric taint growing within him. He's not a vampire, but he must be cautious because he could become one. In short, seize the roleplaying opportunity, but don't let it become a power-gaming fiasco.

[riMkrad]

what Gonzoran said...

if he role plays.... go with it....

if not... go Blade on him