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[WillowLuman]

Oh gods, that would be a headache.

Vampires are often calculating masterminds, so it might also be disturbing that one should be content locked away, with all the official documents...

I could just imagine one biding his time on the hope that eventually the fortress would fall, he'd get out, and then feast on all the recently deceased.

[Zavvnao]

ooh, maybe they can plot to take over the world that way X3

like some book or anime villan X3

[Rose]

Vampires are also traditionally OCD with a compulsion to count everything.

[Lolfail0009]

Vampires are also traditionally OCD with a compulsion to count everything.

One +copper short sword+, hahaha!
Two +copper short sword+, hahaha!
THREE +copper short sword+, hahaha!

DINGDINGDING

[zwei]

Oh gods, that would be a headache.

Vampires are often calculating masterminds, so it might also be disturbing that one should be content locked away, with all the official documents...

I could just imagine one biding his time on the hope that eventually the fortress would fall, he'd get out, and then feast on all the recently deceased.

I can see it. Two Vampires, one accountant, the other manager. Locked up in bureaucratic combat for eternity.

[arkhometha]

Do you plan to (re)implement rivers flooding when you build a dam in it? In the foreseeable future?

[Cruxador]

Do you plan to (re)implement rivers flooding when you build a dam in it? In the foreseeable future?

It was always a plan to re-implement, I doubt he's changed that. It won't be foreseeable future, though.

[TheBricktop]

What about "civilised" vampires? The ones that want to blend in the community? I myself seen quite often them fiercely defending my fortresses, becoming the heroes of dwarfkind, (apart from occasionaly turning my dorfs into raisins) . Maybe there should be a way to allow them to drink only extracted blood, or blood of cats or something like that. Of course there will be outlawed vampires that doesnt comply but only as part of the vampire community.

[Trif]

arkhothema: I'm with Hugo here. It's eventually planned that procedurally generated stuff could be completely and utterly off the wall in terms of normal fantasy. The fact that vampires are currently procedurally generated, even if they only have one permutation at this point, shows that yes, they are most certainly planned to have more differences later.

So, eventually, there will be vampires that will not have to feed? Or vampires that will not suffer any consequences of not acquiring sustenance aka feeding for prolonged periods of time?

Rainseeker:   I guess you could have several different archetypes of vampires, too?
Toady:   Yeah, well, vampires are ... along with zombie uprisings, the properties of a vampire are probably one of the most debated night creature type things; whether you do this or this or this or this or this or this or this. So we're just starting with ... the benefit of having randomly generated vampires is that we just have to think of the properties that people generally think of as fair game for vampires, and then turn them on or off and ... I mean, the crucial things generally seem to be some overall notion that they're predatory on people but not necessarily killing them when they feed, and also the conversation, and I'm not sure if everything else is fair game; not every vampire gets destroyed by the sun but that would certainly be a popular thing to add, and not every vampire can transform into a wolf or a bat or a gas or whatever, but that's also certainly a fair property ... and not every vampire requires a special method to kill it permanently, like driving a stake through its heart or chopping off its head, but that's also a fair property to place on them. Those are the kinds of thing we're thinking of exploring quickly ... and there's also the thing that a vampire is not an insane ravening monster all the time necessarily, and they can blend into society; that's another typical thing.

[LordBaal]

A perfect example of what we could look for in this case is the one of Sylvania from Warhammer 40k,

I'm sorry, I realize it's minor, and you mean Warhammer Fantasy, not Warhammer 40k. =P

Oh don't worry, thanks for pointing it out! A common mistake I make all the time, I call the Eldar Elves and the other way arround too.


Arkhometha and HugoLuman (that by some weird reason I imagine is or looks exactly like Huge Jackman in Wolverine), you two need to chill down.

Hugo, I get the Arkhometha position that not drinking blood for very long times of periods should mean the "end" of the vampire (not his/her death, but his/her "end", it's a bit tricky). Having a vampire fortress should have it's own challenges and perks, instead of being basically the same but having extra tough dwarves that don't eat, drink and don't die of old age, because even when technically is not a exploit if sure do feels like one.

However Arkhometha , I also get what Hugo means, DF uses a lot procedural creation, once that is also applied to vampires we can end up with wildly variations including things that may or may not comply with western folklore and lore, things from they going back to humans up to having not effect at all. I don't fell quite comfortable with those options for the same reasons than you. They are supposed to be death so they should revert to corpses, zombies with fangs or anything but a living human/dwarf/elven, and having no consequences what so ever is even more ridiculous and unbalancing game play wise. But as I mentioned on my past Wall-O-Text™, other things can counter balance this and also it remain to be seen which proprieties the great Toad have in mind for the procedural vampires.

I have no doubt that by now Toady attention has caught all this blood draining debate, so we better ask him question about it to bury the hatchet (or stake if you will).

Oh great Toady, we come to you as your humble and happy serfs. Would you in your infinite wisdom, clarify to us, which kind of dreadful kind proprieties you intend to unleash upon your enemies with your procedural vampires?

There, done. Now let's wait.

[Footkerchief]

Oh great Toady, we come to you as your humble and happy serfs. Would you in your infinite wisdom, clarify to us, which kind of dreadful kind proprieties you intend to unleash upon your enemies with your procedural vampires?

What do you want to know that wasn't covered in the post above yours?  Also, why are you asking questions in such a weird way?

[LordBaal]

I can't answer your questions unless you put them in... let me thing... blue, but I'll pass it this time.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think we all know that vampires will be procedurally generated and will have a wild array of characteristics to take from. What we don't specifically is what kind of characteristics or attributes would be. Flying? Drinking or consuming something else other than blood as complement or exclusively (Souls? Feelings? Urine? Booze?)? Becoming wild zombies if not feed? Being allergic to garlic?.... Well that, I would like to know what Toady has in mind, at least for a starter, or if he doesn't have anything in mind just yet.

[Askot Bokbondeler]

What about "civilised" vampires? The ones that want to blend in the community? I myself seen quite often them fiercely defending my fortresses, becoming the heroes of dwarfkind, (apart from occasionaly turning my dorfs into raisins) . Maybe there should be a way to allow them to drink only extracted blood, or blood of cats or something like that. Of course there will be outlawed vampires that doesnt comply but only as part of the vampire community.

i have a different beef than arkhometha, but hold it with a similar stubborn certainty that i am right. i think vampires are defined as bloodsuckers, and as creatures of evil. a non-evil vampire is a crappy vampire. vampires may even be nice people and be trying really hard, but their condition and powers are unvariably a curse. so while i don't care that a vampire can survive indefinitely without blood if he is locked under a mountain, i don't think drinking blood of a goat, or blood extracted non-lethaly, should do anything for them. drinking blood isn't feeding, it is a ritual, it is the act of committing evil that drives them and not the peculiar configuration of their digestive system.

so you can have your nice do-gooder vampire trying to live in harmony in dwarven society, joining the militia and doing heroic deeds for the fortress, and trying really hard not to hurt anybody, even fooling himself into thinking that he can satisfy his cravings on goblin prisoner blood. The cravings don't go away and the blood has no taste, maybe the blood of dwarven criminals... But going too long without wetting his fangs on the blood of innocents drives the vampire crazy, and one day the local tanner walks home from work to find his wife and children suck dry, their skin like wrinkled paper, their last screams of terror frozen on the expression of their faces, and hunched over his wife's corpse... the hero of the fortress.
The tanner runs out, shouting for the guards. The vampire, shocked by his own actions and released from the cravings that drove them, doesn't give chase, and offers no resistance to the arresting officers. Later that day, the vampire is released. He finds out the overseer has executed the tanner for having murdered his own wife and children.
On his own chambers, the vampire finds a young dwarven maiden, gagged and chained to the wall...

[SmileyMan]

...a non-evil vampire is a crappy vampire. vampires may even be nice people and be trying really hard, but their condition and powers are unvariably a curse. so while i don't care that a vampire can survive indefinitely without blood if he is locked under a mountain, i don't think drinking blood of a goat, or blood extracted non-lethaly, should do anything for them. drinking blood isn't feeding, it is a ritual, it is the act of committing evil that drives them and not the peculiar configuration of their digestive system....

I humbly submit that you go and watch (the British version of) Being Human for a non-evil (ok, ex-evil) vampire that can not suck and yet not suck...

[Draco18s]

...a non-evil vampire is a crappy vampire. vampires may even be nice people and be trying really hard, but their condition and powers are unvariably a curse. so while i don't care that a vampire can survive indefinitely without blood if he is locked under a mountain, i don't think drinking blood of a goat, or blood extracted non-lethaly, should do anything for them. drinking blood isn't feeding, it is a ritual, it is the act of committing evil that drives them and not the peculiar configuration of their digestive system....

I humbly submit that you go and watch (the British version of) Being Human for a non-evil (ok, ex-evil) vampire that can not suck and yet not suck...

Also...one of the books from Discword.  Carpe Jugulum, I think.

Also relevant here is Shadowrun's vampires which feed on essence which is less quantifiable by science than simply "blood."  It's not a materialistic feeding, but rather a magical draining of another being's lifeforce (aka soul).