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How Do You Play Vampires?
elanorbreton
Posts: 14,549 Member
I keep trying to play vampires and I have a great vampire family (2 adults, 2 kids) but I just don't know what to do with them since they can't go out in the sun! At the moment the mum paints and the dad crafts on the woodwork bench, and they go out to the vampire club at night and grab some unsuspecting townie to feed on. They have friendly spars, they do dark meditation and are prime vampires, but... there must be more to it? They don't seem very vampire-y, apart from the drinking of blood.
So, how do you play yours?
Also, why do the kids have a permanent parched moodlet when they cannot drink from sims?
So, how do you play yours?
Also, why do the kids have a permanent parched moodlet when they cannot drink from sims?
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http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/gamepacks/vampires/powers-weaknesses.php
I probably didn't explain very well. I already know about the powers etc, what I am interested in is how people actually play their vampires. I mean, they don't need to cook, they don't need to sleep - they have a lot of time on their hands...
When I do have them actively working on something, it's usually art, music, reading or chess. When I play the Vatores they end up playing a lot of chess.
I imagine that this is an "in character" problem for vampires. They're immortal. They have a lot of time of their hands. So, for those who are active, I imagine then tend to obsess about something, master it and then move on to the next obsession. So, pick a skill or aspiration and work on mastering it... then pick the next one.
All the sims err'day
I've tinkered with TS4 vampires, but have not played a vampire household extensively.
In TS2 I had a vampire that would seek out the most attractive and interesting sims in the neighborhood and make them her familiars.
She did not work. They did all the gardening, upgrading appliances, taking care of the property, etc, while she slept during the day. I had two at first. One slept at night, and the other slept during the day, so she could be awake with my vampire. They took care of her business and made money to get a larger house. She mostly partied and fed on the party goers, or her familiars. Oh, she also owned a Jazz club in TS2. It helped bring in money.
She would eventually turn the familiars that had been with her the longest.
They would eventually get their own house and grow the coven.
I will eventually do this in The Sims 4 when my master save file is complete.
I can see my vampire acquiring sims with various useful talents and admirable personalities and looks.
I don't think he or she will be a day-walker since they will be very dependent on their familiars.
I guess it's a vampire's version of rags to riches.
Hmm, I will probably need a spellcaster that can put any rabid werewolves on ice.
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I did have one story that was kinda amusing for a bit, but you need a mod like MCCC or NPCC that pulls new sims from your tray. I call it the "eternal love" scenario, and you make a sim couple, save them to your library, then turn one into a vampire, but not the other one. Play on Short life, and then after the spouse dies of old age (or some other tragedy) have your vampire try to find their new incarnation and repeat the process.
Yes, I dropped it after the third incarnation, but that's because I really don't care to play vampires. In any game. (I don't play them in World of Darkness either.) Just aren't my thing. So I still got bored after a while.
@luciusstorm this is probably what I will be doing next with them. If they are ancient beings that live forever I suppose they would become very skilled at everything. And I want them to get rich, so will probably incorporate some of your ideas @CK213
@DaWaterRat I can see me getting bored with them long before I get bored with my 'normal' households.
Thanks, everyone, for your replies
I just play them like any normal family except from their night fun they can go out at daytime and all i just get them indoors when they about to roast granted i never really take my sims outdoors that much probably cause im so used to playing vampires
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I like @luciusstorm take on long life and learning.
Imagine looking at each Aspiration category and picking each aspiration that makes sense for your vampire and ordering them in a way that makes sense for their life progression. I imagine my Vampire might get bored with his or her surroundings and might want to make a few world excursions. I would have to make accommodations for a night life in Komorebi and its location based Aspiration.
My vamp could become a Curator from the Nature Aspiration category. They get the reward trait for being able to sell collectables for more.
They would only have to perform the aspiration and thereafter assign the collecting task to a familiar. The familiar would bring the collectables to my vamp and my vamp could sell them for a higher price. You could make it a challenge to tame a werewolf with a the Scavenger ability and make it your familiar. It could be very useful for gathering rare collectables to sell or add to the Mansion's room of world rarities.
A vampire child was born into a “human” family. The parents broke up when she was a child. Every other week she lives in Sulani with her dad and every other with her mom in Windenburg. She plans to move to the Forgotten Hollow when she ages up. None of her parents really prioritized her needs.
I like having a vampire create a family with a sim that is not a vampire. Then I make the kids in CAS with the sim of having one vampire child and then one or two like the other parent. Sims know who their grand-parent is but after that there is no family tree connection. At that point I usually let them retire from the world. Drink a vampire cure and celebrate birthdays at a accelerated speed so that they die of old age while there still is someone in the household who knows who they are.
I have a mod that made vampire attacks happen again. Sometimes I make scary vampires that can frighten my regular sims.
Vampires are nice to have on a rotation. Then you get a break every now and then. I also mod them to age up until adults when they stop. I just got tired of YA’s and let the vampires become really well kept adults instead.
Every 15 years each clan leader elect one member to join the battle, where two vampires go through a specific routine including spar(?), and the loser will be sacrificed to the Sun on the last day of the 15 year feast. It's a way for the leader to get rid of ant problem member, but also a way for me to kill of a vamp, as they live forever unless I help.
Count Vlad IV of Hollow is still leading the Traditional clan, and at the upcoming battle I believe he might turn in his eldest son, who refused to be faithful to the trad stuff, but rather wants to be a happy, colorful and responsible vampire. The leader of the Modern clan is Sophus Gorgel (aka Lord Wolfsbane), who originally grew up as a lord of the very well known House of Ross (they hold the dukedom of Rossie, which Hollow is a party of).
There's more, like residents paying house rent by offering plasma. But that's another story
I play my own vampires somewhat similarly to how they're portrayed in Andrzej Sapkowski's stories (the ones in which Geralt of Rivia became famous). In my backstory there was no "conjunction of the spheres" to explain how vampires came to exist as an entirely different species alongside humans (and other races/species), but I've left myself some open-ended references to some sort of arrival in the far, far distant past.
In my version of their history vampires were probably originally extraterrestrials, but not of the Sixam sort, and I've deliberately left that part of their history vague in case I want to expand upon it at some later time. I don't have as many vampire types as Sapkowski's stories do (which are a wide variety between the grotesque and monstrous lower forms and the beautiful and brilliant highest form), but I do have a couple of varieties that are often indistinguishable between each other in terms of appearance. There are the Progenitors (the originals and descendants of the original bloodlines) and the Offspring, who are created by something more akin to genetic manipulation/mutation than magic, but of course it looks like magic in the game itself (in the form of giving and receiving plasma in order have the necessary genetic material). The way it looks is only ceremonial in my universe.
Similarly to the vampires created by Mr. Sapkowski, my vampires aren't really afraid of or damaged by sunlight, but most prefer to keep mostly to themselves (they consider other species generally less worthy than themselves, but they reserve outright hatred for directly perceived insults or injury), so many of them don't go about during the day. They don't consume plasma for sustenance as often as the game wants them to, because they consider it a delicacy, something to be more rare and treasured than many vampire tales tend to depict vampire hunger/thirst. In terms of gamplay, I have to "play pretend" a good bit with all that, but I've found it mostly easy to ignore the game's way of doing things. And when my vampires eventually gain the perks that let them truly be the plasma connoisseurs most of them strive to someday become, it becomes even easier to mingle with other species whenever they want such amusements.
That's not to say there aren't some that deviate from the ultimate goal of becoming the pinnacle of their cultural ideals. There certainly are. Some purposely play up the "rumor mill" version of vampires that were made up over the span of time since they first arrived. For some, that's their game.
Because I can't; I keep all sigs turned off.
I plan to level up some vamps so they can walk in the sun, but I tend to get a bit lazy on the leveling front, lol.
(She/her)
I play my own version of the Vampire Family Legacy. Vamps “can’t” have kids in my game. Ultimately she is growing her vampire clans. She has a human sim that lives in the clan as her personal plasma source. The human sim acts as a way to “mark the generations that pass.” She can only turn 1 sim at a time. That new sim has to reach level 3 vamp/Prime before she can turn the next one. She trains them all up. They have to master certain powers before they go. Only certain sims are bestowed the ability to turn others. They all work on 1 skill at a time and work to master it before moving on.
I do have some in the clan on permanent hibernation depending on what I’m focusing on. I play a lot with interpersonal drama.
Once she has 3 vamps at prime status they can move out and start their own clan in a town outside Forgotten Hollow. She gets cranky and punishes vamps who haven’t been approved to turn someone - there have been a few sunlight deaths.
I’ve had sims run off to be good vamps that she’s hunted endlessly. Others that are werewolf sympathisers which she feuds. Other vamps that I’ve made really evil. Drinking the town dry, putting sims in prisons in the basement to feed on. She goes and fights them. If she wins… they come back to the main clan house…. And are subjected to the sun.
The other question is "what is a vampire when they aren't a vampire?" This relates to the in-between times of "vampiric activity". How would you play a normal family? Now what does vampirism add that could spice each aspect up?
- Does one parent love to cook? Well perhaps they throw parties regularly so that they and their partner can find potential recurrent victims.
- Perhaps one or both parents use their abilities on their children in order to parent more effectively (Command, Deprive Needs, etc).
- Perhaps both parents have completed the 'Serial Romantic' aspiration, and "date night" includes unsuspecting mortals they "play with" to spice up their long, long, long love life.
- Perhaps a "family outing" includes lessons on proper "dining", and using the children as bait.
- If they can't go out in the daytime, simply flip your playstyle's timetable to nighttime adventures, and have them hibernate the day away.
Vampires are, at heart, just mortals, save for the lack of a deadline in life and a myriad of abilities at their disposal. Take that and run with it. In fact, they live so long, you could effectively play them as their own generations (living different lives over time, just to do whatever comes to mind).If it's still not working for you, I've a few ideas you could incorporate into family gameplay, allowing you to have fun with the parents, whilst getting to know vampirism more in-depth and awaiting the children's coming-of-age.
Edit: I realised I hadn't answered the "how do you play" question.
Aside from varying vampire types (to switch up the gameplay), I play them as people whose concepts of morality (slowly but surely) begin to wane. What happens when time is no longer a marathon with a finish line? What happens when mortals begin to fall all around you? What happens when you can simply take what you want, with no-one the wiser? What happens when "forever" isn't just a word spoken by the lovesick or those in despair? What happens when greatness becomes just a hobby?
It's a fun thought experiment, and even more fun to play.
No clue about the "Parched" moodlet. Never had that happen to a vampire child before.
Oh, I thought you were asking why they aren't very vampy when you asked if there was anything more about them to see, play. I must of misunderstood and why I gave you the link to show you they can be very vampy if particular things are chosen and they don't have to stay inside if the right perk is chosen etc. I'm sorry I thought you were asking why they are dull.
Kassandra - Teen vampire who did not know she was a vampire until she lost control and drank from her best friend. At the urging of her aunt (who is a vampire-human liaison in Forgotten Hollow) she moved to stay with her and is now starting school at a vampire high school (I made my own school, and use Triplis "teens and children quit school" mod and the club system to have a playable school).
Reuben - 400+ year old vampire police detective with a troubled past and personal connections to an even older vampire who is currently a bit of a high society mob boss. He also has an alien roommate he's having trouble getting along with, human apartment neighbors he's also having trouble getting along with, and he secretly also works as a private detective at night (which will get him in trouble at his police job if it's found out).
Victor (aka Mr. R) - He lives in a haunted house, and he occasionally does gig work as a paranormal investigator. There is a human man who is boarding with him that he isn't telling all his secrets too...
Damico - My very first vampire sim. He is an artist who paints and does night-time photography. He's engaged to a human. Currently, I am playing that in order to marry his human fiance, he has get approval from all the senior vampires and the leader of the vampire coven. Not all of them totally approve of the idea of him marrying a human. Also his fiance's best friend doesn't like him. And (pending my purchase of the Werewoves pack) might be a werewolf.
Edit to add a further thought - I think vampires are the most fun to play with when you do a little "world building" in your own head regarding how vampires are seen in that world. Are they completely out in the open members of society? Are they hidden and thought a myth by humans? Are they feared because their blood drinking? Are they admired and respected because of their long lives and acquired wisdom? Do they live among humans? Do they have their own secluded communities and rules? etc. More story ideas may occur if you give them a context to happen in.
I made a vampire club now though (gtw club system) and this seems to be the only way I can get other vampires to turn up at my vampire nexus lot. They all do vampire stuff there, which is cool. And a lot more humans are turning up there too, to have a bite from.
Love your ideas @KyreRoen
Edit: I didn't want it to sound like they would be losing their humanity as gameplay mechanics, it's just something I picked up from True Blood.
Edit 2: Forgot my vampires are also infertile! They need to master the herbalism skill and create fertility potion to get a child. One of my vampires had a baby before this rule though, but the lot was on the ley-line, so potentially that can also overcome the infertility.
Updated with Werewolf Diaries (1)
I've never felt they were nearly as powerful as my spell caster sims and other than creating side drama I don't play as vampires anymore. They're just friends or enemies of my other sims. They have too much time. I prefer a little pressure to keep my sims needs met and outside of thirst they really don't have much else... making them a day walker makes them feel less like a vampire to me. In general I guess I don't favor them and that's fine. They exist to assist in story lines for me
I carefully consider which abilities and weaknesses my vampires get and which represent them the best (I also try not to give them too many abilities), so I don't have just one type of vampires. All of them are infertile though (and I probably draw inspiration from Anne Rice's vampires the most because I really loved those books when I was younger). Vlad and Lilith are my master vampires and most of my vampires are Lilith's offspring (she hopes that some day she'll be called The Queen). If there's some kind of disagreement, trouble with spellcasters (or werewolves) or something Lilith and Vlad should be informed.
I look forward to having a celebrity vampire and I have never had a vampire baby, but I have planned to try to make Lily and Victor Feng have one (there's a pee bush and "on a dark ley lain" lot trait on Vlad's lot waiting for them. I'm still not sure how they'll end up there though
Usually, though, I have my vampires just kind of be supernatural bums, making a living with side jobs and having random adventures. One of my guys is a sort of freelance archeologist with a mage for a sidekick. Maybe you can have one of the kids join up with a group of other occult misfits and spend a chunk of their young adult lives exploring ruins, investigating Moonwood Mill's history, getting into all kinds of scrapes before they settle down, get a real job, and start a family of their own?
As with all my sims its character driven, what fits their character they shall do or dont do, no matter what life form they are.