Do you have a fancy a bit of neck biting this Halloween? LTM party features a wide variety of vampire costumes to suit your gothic lifestyle! If you'd like to be a sexy vampiress, we have some very beautiful Leg Avenue vampiress costumes. We also have very classic Vampire costumes for Men, boys, girls and teens.



Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Collector's Set (40 discs) (1997)

Plot Outline
After the traumatizing ordeal in the movie with the same name, Buffy Summers and her mother move to Sunnydale, only to discover that L.A. was just a walk in the park...
Plot Synopsis: Buffy is sixteen years old and is the "chosen one" . She gets to kill vampires because it is her destiny to do so. She had a bad reputation at her old school in Los Angeles because she had burned the gym down. The principal at her new school at first rips up her records, and then tapes her records back together again. Buffy tries to explain that the gym at her old school had to be burned down because it was full of vampires! Buffy and her mom just want a fresh start in their new, suburban California home, where the good part of town is half a block away from the bad part of town. In her new high school, Buffy meets an eccentric librarian who knows that Buffy is the "chosen one". At first, the librarian scares her away by showing her a book about vampires, but then she returns to the library, knowing that the librarian can help her out with fighting off vampires and other supernatural things.

Amazon.com
From its charming and angst-ridden first season to the darker, apocalyptic final one, Buffy the Vampire Slayer succeeds on many levels, and in a fresher and more authentic way than the shows that came before or after it. How lucky, then, that with the release of its boxed set of seasons 1-7, you can have the estimable pleasure of watching a near-decade of Buffy in any order you choose. (And we have some ideas about how that should be done.)
First: rest assured that there's no shame in coming to Buffy late, even if you initially turned your nose up at the winsome Sarah Michelle Gellar kicking the shit out of vampires (in Buffy-lingo, vamps), demons, and other evil-doers. Perhaps you did so because, well, it looked sort of science-fiction-like with all that monster latex. Start with season 3 and see that Buffy offers something for everyone, and the sooner you succumb to it, the quicker you'll appreciate how textured and riveting a drama it is.

Why season 3? Because it offers you a winning cast of characters who have fallen from innocence: their hearts have been broken, their egos trampled in typically vicious high-school style, and as a result, they've begun to realize how fallible they are. As much as they try, there are always more monsters, or a bigger evil. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the core crew remains something of a unit--there's the smart girl, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) who dreams of saving the day by downloading the plans to City Hall's sewer tunnels and mapping a route to safety. There are the ne'r do wells--the vampire Spike (James Marsters), who both clashes with and aspires to love Buffy; the tortured and torturing Angel (David Boreanz); the pretty, popular girl with an empty heart (Charisma Carpenter); and the teenage everyman, Xander (Nicholas Brendon).

Then there's Buffy herself, who in the course of seven seasons morphs from a sarcastic teenager in a minidress to a heroine whose tragic flaw is an abiding desire to be a "normal" girl. On a lesser note, with the boxed set you can watch the fashion transformation of Buffy from mall rat to Prada-wearing, kickboxing diva with enviable highlights. (There was the unfortunate bob of season 2, but it's a forgivable lapse.) At least the storyline merits the transformations: every time Buffy has to end a relationship she cuts her hair, shedding both the pain and her vulnerability.

In addition to the well-wrought teenage emotional landscape, Buffy deftly takes on more universal themes--power, politics, death, morality--as the series matures in seasons 4-6. And apart from a few missteps that haven't aged particularly well ("I Robot" in season 1 comes to mind), most episodes feel as harrowing and as richly drawn as they did at first viewing. That's about as much as you can ask for any form of entertainment: that it offer an escape from the viewer's workaday world and entry into one in which the heroine (ideally one with leather pants) overcomes demons far more troubling than one's own. --Megan Halverson

Review:
Welcome to the Hellmouth

What can really be said about "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" that hasn't already been said. In every form of production this series was a miracle: after leaving Buffy for death after the desasterous 1992 feature film, writter Joss Whedon took his original idea and tranformed it into television form. But it was only the upstart network: The WB that would give Joss and company a chance. It was from there in March of 1997 that Buffy was born. Eventhough the show was "officially" cancelled 6 times durring its run the show lasted seven years filming 144 episodes.

To sum up the story of Buffy is extremly difficult, especially when you don't have the amount of space a book offers to do so. In the simplest of forms Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a story about outsiders, true love, and family. Buffy is a typical blond southern californian girl: superficial, peppy, and niave. It isn't until that she finds out that she is actually the lastest in a long line of women chosen to fight vampires and the forces of darkness. That secrest forcess Buffy to grow up rather fast, especially when she and her mother relocate to Sunnydale, California. It was there that Buffy truly began her journey. But she was a unique slayer in fact that she had friends by her side that saved her life more times than anyone can count... overtime these friends became her family, and the core to the show.

The best was to write about the complete series is to do so in a season by seaosn basis. Season 1 (which lasted on 12 episodes) basically series as an introduction to the series. The characters are introduced, and fleshed out... it is amazing that it only takes the show 12 episodes to establish seven character that seem like they become part of the family by the episode "Prophecy Girl". But the first season also serves as an introduction to the universe the show is set in. Sunnydale (the town buffy lives in) serves as a "hellmouth" of sorst which means that it has alot of mystical energy that draws "the forces of darkness to it."

Season Two served the show, by demonstrated what the series was capable off. Buffy will not always be a fluffly happy show, and in times can become rather depressing... Anything goes, like real life: hearts can be broken, people can die, the world will go on. It is in this season that Buffy learns all these major lessons....

Season Three tells the story of ending... and how to deal with them... There are only a few amount of people that you can count on... This is learned when the Mayor of Sunnydale becomes the #1 bad guy, trying to asscend and rid the world of humans. This season also shows that friends can become family, family is not just blood, its who you choose.

Season Four was all about the growing up. When Buffy and company go off to college, they learn that there are many things that can pull them apart, but it is who you trust that is ultimatly important...

And so on... each season's basic focus is about the growing trends and how people eventually become who there are, and what influences... how people are torn apart, and brought together. How Family doesn't just have to be blood, but can be found...

I have only just scratched the surface of this amazing show that digged so deep down that is has become the sole focus of numerous college courses. Joss Whedon and his writters developed a world that is full of so many themes (universal and specific) that it can charm anyone of any age (while at the same time making them laugh, cry, and want to throw up with pain).

I personally started watching the show when I was 9 years old from the very first episode. I continued on with the show until the series finale when I was 15 (I also followed the series Angel)... And the show still seemes so fresh in my mind. Eventhough I have seem the "highschool episodes" many many times, I still find that there is more and more to discover in this universe... The best way I can describe this show is magically.

When I started watching Buffy, it was the only tv show that I watched (besides teh simpsons), it was from there that I branched out into other shows: dawson's creek, chamred, felicity, gilmore girls, and so on... but no matter how many shows I watched I could not find anything to match the wit and magic that I originally found in Buffy. When I first bought the first season on DVD years ago, I remember listening to the commentary for "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "the Harvest" by the series creator: Joss Whedon (the commentaries are included on this set). It was in this commentary that Joss Talked about everything from the movie to getting the show to last into its fifth season... He talked about the show and the process of making the show with so much compassion and love and drive it really touched me... I believe that the commentary is the soul purpose that influenced me to become a television writer... It is less than 2 months before I start college, and I believe that there would be no more perfect time for this set to come out.

If you have ever put off buying this series, this is your chance to own the complete series of the of the best things to ever air on television!

Interview with the Vampire (1994)

Plot Outline
A vampire tells his epic life story: love, betrayal, loneliness, and hunger.
Plot Synopsis: It hadn't even been a year since a plantation owner named Louis had lost his wife, and now he had lost his will to live. A vampire named Lestat takes a liking to Louis and offers him the chance to become a creature of the night: a vampire. Louis accepts, and Lestat drains Louis' mortal blood and then replaces it with his own turning Louis into a vampire. Louis must learn from Lestat the ways of the vampire.


Review: A Haunting, Erotic Treat

I haven't cared very much for Anne Rice's recent books, but her earlier work was outstanding. I loved "Interview" in particular, so I was really looking forward to this movie. There is always a risk in adapting such a vivid and powerful-not to mention beloved-book into a film. Director Neil Jordan and his collaborators have succeeded marvelously, though. This is an exciting, engaging film; remarkably faithful to Rice's original text.
The story opens in present day San Francisco. Louis (Brad Pitt), a 200 year-old vampire, is telling his life story to an interviewer (Christian Slater), who is shocked by his supernatural revelation. "I am flesh and blood," Louis tells him, "but not human."

His story takes us back to late 18th century New Orleans where Louis first encountered the Vampire Lestat (Tom Cruise). Desiring a companion, and in love with his beautiful looks, Lestat gives Louis the "Dark Gift"-that is, he makes him into a vampire. They live together for many years, roaming the streets at night, united by their common quest for blood.

Eventually, though, Lestat fears that Louis is going to leave him. Desperate, he makes a vampire of Claudia (Kirsten Dunst), a beautiful young child, knowing the Louis would never leave the girl. Thus they are bonded together as "one big, happy family." As it turns out, though, they are not so happy after all.

The story takes the vampires to Paris, where they finally encounter some more of their own kind. The coven of vampires is led by the stunningly handsome Armand (Antonio Banderas) who quickly falls in love with Louis. Louis is enamored of him as well, but he will never leave little Claudia, something Armand realizes.

The film ends back in the present in a departure from Rice's book. The new twist is exciting, though, and sets up the story for an inevitable sequel. It hasn't been made yet, but if it ever is, I'm looking forward to it.

The big question, of course, is, how is Tom Cruise as Lestat? In one word: brilliant. This is one of his best performances ever, heightened by the fact that he is playing a role so different from his typical screen persona. Cruise has always been an underrated actor, but hopefully that will start to change after people see him here. He is terrific.

The rest of the performances are also quite good. Brad Pitt does very well as the tortured, guilt-ridden Louis. Antonio Banderas is extraordinary as the seductive, young master of darkness. His is the most convincing portrayal of a vampire, filled with power and charisma.

Neil Jordan's direction is top-notch. Visually, "Vampire" is stunning, helped considerably by Dante Ferretti's superb production design. Anyone who has read the book-and anyone who has not-is sure to enjoy this haunting, erotic treat

Review: Dies Irae, Dies Doloris

"Libera me, Domine, de vitae aeterna" - "Free me, Lord, from eternal life": If a movie begins with a choir and boy soprano singing these words, in a requiem's style and overlaying the camera's sweeping move over nightly San Francisco bay, zooming in on a Victorian building's top-floor window after having followed the life on the street below like a hunter follows its prey - if a movie begins like this, you know you're not looking at your average flick, whatever its subject. (And if the first thing you catch is the Latin phrase's grammatical mistake, this is probably not your kind of movie to begin with).

Much-discussed even before its release, due not least to Anne Rice's temporary withdrawal of support and her no less sensational subsequent 180-degree turn, Neil Jordan's adaptation of the "Vampire Chronicles"' first part, based on Rice's own screenplay, is a sumptuous production awash in luminous colors, magnificent period decor and costumes, rich fabrics, heavy crystal, elegant silverware and gallons of deeply scarlet blood, supremely photographed by Phillippe Rousselot, with a constant undercurrent of sensuality and seduction; an audiovisual orgy substantiated by one of recent film history's most ingenious scores (by Elliot Goldenthal). Although the book only gained notoriety after the publication of its sequel "The Vampire Lestat," followed in short order by the "Chronicles"' third installment, "The Queen of the Damned," by the time this movie was produced, Rice had acquired a large and loyal fan base, who would have been ready to tear it to shreds had it failed to meet their expectations. That this was not unanimously the case is in and of itself testimony to Neil Jordan's considerable achievement (only underscored by the botched 2002 realization of "Queen of the Damned"). Sure, some decry the plot changes vis-a-vis the novel and the fact that some of the protagonists (particularly Louis and Armand) look different from Rice's description. But others have embraced the movie wholeheartedly; praising it for remaining faithful to the fundamentalities of Rice's story and for its production values as such. I find myself firmly in the latter corner; indeed, in some respects I consider this one of the rare movies that are superior to their literary originals - primarily because the story's two main characters, Louis and Lestat, gain considerably in stature and complexity compared to Rice's book.

While both film and novel are narrated by Louis (Brad Pitt), giving an interview to a reporter (Christian Slater) in the hope of achieving some minimal atonement for 200 years of sin and guilt, and while Lestat (Tom Cruise) appears on screen barely half the movie's running time, Lestat is much more of a central character than in Rice's novel; and vastly more interesting. For Anne Rice's Lestat only comes into his own in the "Chronicles"' second part, which is named for him and where we truly learn to appreciate him as the vampire world's aristocratic, arrogant, wicked, intelligent and unscrupulous "brat prince," who although completely lacking regret for any of his actions nevertheless shows occasional glimpses of caring, even if he would never admit thereto. *This*, however, is exactly the movie's Lestat; not the comparatively uninformed and, all things considered, even somewhat brutish creature of Rice's first novel. It is no small feat on Tom Cruise's part to have accomplished this; and in my mind his portrayal has completely eclipsed the character's original conception, which was reportedly based on Rutger Hauer's Captain Navarre in "Ladyhawke."

Similarly, while every bit as guilt-ridden as the character created by Anne Rice, Brad Pitt's Louis regains more inner strength - and more quickly so - than the narrator of Rice's book, rendering him more of an even foil for Lestat, and equally lending greater credibility to his initial selection as Lestat's companion, his actions to ensure his and Claudia's escape to Europe, and his later decision not to stay with Armand. (Indeed, Louis's and Armand's separation after the burning of the Theatre of the Vampires makes perfect sense in the movie's context; it would have undercut both characters', but especially Louis's credibility had they gone on to share years of companionship like in the book.)

Kirsten Dunst's Claudia was not only this movie's biggest discovery - not surprisingly, in an interview included on the DVD Dunst calls this "the most prominent role" of her career so far - she, too, embodies the novel's child vampire to absolute perfection; capturing her eternally childlike features as well as her Lolitaesque seductiveness and the ruthless killer hidden under her doll-like appearance. Doubtlessly furthest from the novel's character is Antonio Banderas's powerful and charismatic Armand: But while I do somewhat miss Rice's auburn-haired "Botticelli angel," I always had a problem imagining him as the leader of the Paris coven, in control even of the quicksilver-like Santiago (marvelously portrayed by Stephen Rea in one of his most overtly theatrical performances). Here, too, the movie - if anything - gives the story greater credibility; although it's admittedly hard to reconcile with parts of the "Chronicles"' later installments, particularly Armand's own biography.

In interviews, Neil Jordan and Brad Pitt particularly have mentioned the emotional strain that this vampire movie put on all its participants; due its almost exclusively nightly shooting schedule, and even more so because of its incessant exploration of guilt, damnation and, literally, hell on earth. Anne Rice's vampires truly are the ultimate outsiders; no longer part of human society, they feed on it, can neither be harmed by sickness nor by methods the world has taken for granted ever since Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (which are in fact merely "the vulgar fictions of a demented Irishman," as Louis explains, simultaneously amused and contemptuous) and are thus, if not killed by fire and/or beheading, condemned to walk the earth forever, without any hope of redemption. It is primarily this element which has given Rice's novels their lasting appeal, and which is perfectly rendered in Jordan's adaptation. I'm still not sure I'd ever want to meet them in person, though ...





Psychic Vampire Codex: A Manual of Magick and Energy Work (Paperback)

Lee Prosser, Ghostvillage.com
One of the best reference works available on contemporary vampirism.

Book Description
The Psychic Vampire Codex is the first book to examine the phenomenon and experience of modern vampirism completely from the vampire’s perspective. Father Sebastian, a fellow psychic vampire writes in the foreword that Michelle Belanger’s system "introduced a breath of fresh air into the vampire subculture. It freed us to look at ourselves in a new light, and it also helped those outside our community to view us differently. No longer were we parasites or predators . . . we could use our inborn abilities to help people heal."

Psychic vampires are people who prey on the vital, human life energies of others. They are not believed to be undead. They are mortal people whose need for energy metaphorically connects them to the life-stealing predators of vampire myth.

In The Psychic Vampire Codex, Michelle Belanger, author and psychic vampire, introduces readers to the fascinating system of energy work used by vampires themselves and provides the actual codex text widely used by the vampire community for instruction in feeding and other techniques. Belanger also examines the ethics of vampirism and offers readers methods of protection from vampires.

The Psychic Vampire Codex explodes all preconceptions and myths about who and what psychic vampires really are and reveals a vital and profound spiritual tradition based on balance, rebirth, and an integral relationship with the spirit world.

Fascinating, significant, exceedingly well done, September 28, 2004
Reviewer: Jacflash (Acton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
The Codex is really two books: a tour of the vampire subculture, and an energy work manual. As an introduction to vampirism, it's quite effective, providing interesting historical tidbits for veterans of the scene as well as enough context to clue in newbies and the curious. It's an easy, enjoyable, engaging read.

But it's the Codex itself -- the manual of energy work -- that really delivers. Ms. Belanger's walk through the basics and the not-so-basics of working with energy is a tour de force -- well-paced, evenhanded, clear as spring water, and thoroughly comprehensive. Throughout, her tone is compassionate, wise, and straightforward -- a balanced, enlightened teacher addressing the sophisticated student. The advanced techniques she presents are amazing, innovative, very well thought out, and effective, and include a full range healing and fighting skills in addition to the energy vampire's specialties.

One small caveat: the book really does expect the reader to have at least a rudimentary familiarity with the basics of moving and working with energy. The author glosses over some basics -- in and itself not a problem, but as a sometime teacher of This Stuff I do wish she were a bit clearer about first steps.

Overall, this book represents a substantial addition to the canon of advanced energy work techniques in print. For the serious student, it would be a bargain at three times the price. Bravo to Ms. Belanger (and to Weiser) for bringing it to us.

Review: Sheer stupidity
This doesn't even deserve the star I gave it. Think about how ridiculous this is! It was written by a self-proclaimed vampire, and describes magic spells and other bs used for other aspiring vampires to replace blood-sucking with energy...um...sucking.
Don't believe this bs for a second. If you are sincerely interested in the wackjob vampire subculture, get a book on its history. If you personally believe yourself to be a vampire, go for psychiatric help. You probably have dissociated personality disorder.

Review: A refreshing breath of air into a subject old as man
Reading this book is a very eye opening experience. The author is very comprehensive on the subject of psychic vamprism, so that people can be exposed to the light of truth about vampires and their life styles. This is a must read for anyone who is intrested in vampires, the occult, or any paranormal/metaphysial subject matter.

Review: Fabulous!
This is a good book I have personally recommended to those who are just learning or those who wish to know more about real vampires. Very easily read and informative.

Vampire: The Requiem (Hardcover)
Repeat after me: Vampire the Requim is NOT NOT NOT NOT Vampire the Masquerade 4th edition. Its a new game, new rules, and a new world. Frankly I was extremely impressed that unlike TSR's endless parade of editions White Wolf had the courage to end one of the most sucsesful rpg lines in gaming history and go in a brand new direction. I see a lot of complaints about "watering" down of vampire powers but frankly so what? I'm glad to see that they made the system more balanced instead of leaving loop holes that could easily be exploited to make uber characters(disagree create a vampire with presense 5 in old VtM and then compare it in any sort of competition to any other character they kick butt). People who are in love with the whole Caine mythos should realize theres no reason why they can't continue to use it. By leaving the origins of vampires in the world completely ambiguous White Wolf has left the door open for every story teller in the world to give his own Cannon explanation. If you like Caine make it Caine and the antedeluvians. If you prefer Lilith(which is really more mythological accurate any way) make it Lilith. Or if like me you'd rather leave it open to speculation then you can do that to. As to choices you actually have far more options with your character then you ever had in the entire history of VtM. In VtM you had 13 clans and the assorted blood lines. Many of the bloodlines ranged from the repetitive, to the unbalancing to the simply silly. NOw you have 5 clans and several sects all of which have there own signature powers. If you don't like those your character can create a brand new blood line with its own unique discipline after he reaches a certain point(an option completely missing from the original game), or create your own new sects if the Ordo Dracul and Inviticus don't do it for you. Frankly on the story front theres a much more interesting political dynamic with a bunch of different sects struggling for power in each city then the old idea of two main sects who duked it out each controlling entire cities.

Review: Cold. Hard. Rage...

I. Feel. Nothing. But. Rage...

I have read this book and the new Vampire books, since that point I have felt a cold rage enter my heart. I find the new game mechanic's too simple, and the met plots ridiculous...

I feel betrayed by WW because THEY HAD MY BUISNESS, I gave up playing D&D to experience a superior gaming system, and genuine robust storyline's of morality and choices of falling into darkness.

Now it's White-Wolf, The Sell-Out. Nothing that made WtA and VtM the magnificent and inspiring table tops RPG's that the where is in these new products. I think WW looked at what Wizards is doing (D&D) and tried to copy it, but D&D has had 30 yrs to perfect and make it's system. WW had an original system, but have fallen onto mediocrity, and that makes a bad game...

Don't ever buy this if you are a fan of the old system. You will most likely hate it. If you are a new player I recommend playing D&D, it's a whole lot better...

Review: A good reworking
Despite what the overall rating of the game looks like at the time I am writing this, Vampire the Requiem is a very strong game. The system is solid in terms of mechanics and they do not flip flop between games, nor do they introduce myriad skills that are covered by another skill in one game, but not in the others.
Specific strong points of Requiem:

1. Blood Potency. Nothing drives a gamer nuts like having a character who cannot ever really improve his power level, in Vampire the Masquerade it was very difficult to improve your vampiric power statistic (Generation) you had to either belong to the Sabbat, where the reprehensible tactic diablerie was legal, or be granted the allowance of diablerie by the Prince if you were a Camarilla vampire. In Vampire the Requiem if you want your character to have great control over the powers of her blood, you can simply save up your xp to buy another level of Blood Potency. If your character is the reprehensible sort you can still Diablerize, but it automatically penalizes you if you destroy someone's soul.

2. Humanity. Humanity was in VtM as well, but it also had Paths of Enlightenment that allowed you to perform horrendous wicked acts without being punished. Paths developed a very bad reputation amongst most VtM Storytellers, earning the nickname of, "The Path of What I Was Going to Do Anyway."
Example:
Player: I blow up the orphanage with a sack of C4!
ST: Uhhh... roll humanity...
Player: Nope! I don't have to I'm on the Path of Un-utterable Carnage, I hope to transcend vampirism by blowing up nuns and orphans. It's in The Guide to the Sambrionali. Actually I'd have to roll for a loss of Path if I didn't blow up the bus!

Vampire is a Personal Horror game - you are confronting the horrible nature of the curse that has been laid upon you. Killing anything you want to is Splatter-Punk, not Personal Horror.

3. Bloodlines. Bloodlines as presented in Vampire the Requiem are an interesting reworking of the Bloodlines and lost clans of Vampire the Masquerade. In Masquerade you had about a thousand bloodlines and different varieties of vampire, each with their own discipline and not necessarily any real play balance, or even a clan weakness. Now you have the ability to design your own Bloodlines for your game, and they are things that can be entered only by certain varieties of vampire. They are somewhat like Prestige Classes in D&D, in that you have to have a certain parentage and Blood Potency to enter them. Characters can choose to enter the Bloodline of their sire by taking certain steps, or they can enter a different Bloodline within their clan at a slightly higher Blood Potency, or they can start their very own Bloodline at a higher Blood Potency. It allows for infinite possibility within the range of what type of Vampire you are, but keeps some ground rules about it.

4. No set Good/Bad Guys group(s). In Masquerade you had the Camarilla and the Sabbat. Neither was supposed to be really "Good", nor were they "Bad", but you really only had two choices as to which side you were on (unless you were of an independant clan, and then you had your own clan's side.) In Requiem they have several different Covenants, groups of Vampire organizations. From the Lancae Sanctum, a dark reflection of the Catholic Church, to the Ordo Dracul, a group of vampires allegedly begun by Dracula himself who attempt to overcome vampirism and become something else entirely. Neither is the good or bad group. Despite how the Lancae Sanctum sound like they should be horrifically evil, the Ordo Dracul are potentially just as likely as antagonists.

All in all this game is very much worth your money. It is not perfect, but it is a very strong game. Don't forget that you have to have the base World of Darkness book to play it, as this book merely contains the rules for mortals who have become vampires.

Review: a better game
I was pleased with Requiem. It made more sense than the old Masquerade and its myriad clans etc. The same problem is lurking in the background with this version with the potential of a zillion bloodlines to start up but in this game the Storyteller has much more control over what they want to include. I don't see that it would be too hard to convert an existing Masquerade game to this system, since no one's sure what the orgin of vampires is. Of course, you'd have to ignore the "end of the world" part;)

Review: Less for the Reader, More for the Player
I applaud White Wolf for doing what they have done in releasing Vampire: The Requiem. I was a great fan of the VtM system, with a few minor annoyances, and was initially concerned that "revamping" (so to speak) the system for a new game was just a money grab for the good people of White Wolf (but then again, what isn't, in the end?), and that too much focus would be on making things DIFFERENT rather than on making them BETTER.

After having read the book and preparing my first chronicle with it, I can say that I am thoroughly impressed with the changes made. The "minor annoyances" I mentioned earlier have largely all been dealt with nicely, and the new system seems more user-friendly and gives the potential for better games.

Annoyances that have been fixed:
1) They're Ancient and Powerful, You're Not, So Deal With It: VtM was always a tad frustrating in that the Antidiluvians and Methuselahs (probably misspelled) were so ancient and so powerful that they were as Gods to ants above other vampires of higher generations, and there was nothing the weaker ones could do. Granted, life isn't fair so why should the game be, but I personally like the Requiem system whereupon the oldest and most powerful vampires are losing their minds and memories, leaving them as tortured and twisted as young vampires struggling to survive against more powerful social forces. The added difficulty of life at the top really makes the fact that vampirism is supposed to be a "curse" a lot more prevalent among all Kindred - in VtM, though vampires were aparently "cursed", they had it pretty good once they were among the truly mighty.

2) The Power of the Kine: As an extension of the last point, VtM also bugged me in that though there was occasional mention of how the Masquerade existed because humans would wipe out vampires if they knew about them, the Kindred's control of human society at every level made this seem unlikely. Because the mightiest vampires, as mentioned earlier, had God-like powers, and vampires controlled all of the human infrastructure in full, breaching the Masquerade was made pretty much impossible, and the Kine seemed pretty harmless no matter what. In Requiem, vampires influence society a lot, but don't seem so utterly in control of it. Also, given that the mightiest vampires aren't nearly as God-like as in VtM (pleeeeeeease don't bring out Master level disciplines), they seem much more insecure as a whole, making, in my opinion, for more enjoyable, edge-of-your-seat gaming.

3) You Are What You Are: If I had put more thought into ordering these point, this one should have come first, becuase it was the thing that most annoyed me about VtM. In that system, your clan pretty much dictated your character. With 13 base clans, plus antitribu, bloodlines, and other variations, there was probably a good fit out there for whatever character you wanted to create, but the problem was that your clan was your whole identity, at least in the eyes of others, as well as being your only support network. If you were in good with your clan, then you had to have a character within certain parameters. If not, you were on your own. Clans cast too much prejudice in VtM, wbereas in Requiem, with far fewer clans (five), who knows how many bloodlines, and covenants that you may choose or not choose at will, vampires balance their inherited identity with their chosen one, serve more than one master, and can be a lot more unique without being shunned and hated. The clan/covenant system makes gaming much more dynamic, and there is more moral responsibility on the shoulders of the player than ever before, which is great. Another aspect of "You Are What You Are" in VtM was generation, which was inherited and defined your place on the food chain permanently. The only was to change this was through diablerie, and even then you would be killed immediately if you were found out. Essentially, then, the only way to increase your place on the food chain in VtM was through evil, heinous actions, which really sucked if you wanted to play a character that cared about humanity. In Requiem, blood potency goes up the longer you survive and the more active you are. There is the possibility for real advancement without having to dip into evil to get there, and a driving notion that your character may someday be a powerful elder, as opposed to the VtM belief that one day you'll be a powerful vampire that will always be limited by generation. And finally, the last "You Are What You Are" of VtM was the Camarilla/Sabbat system, whereupon you were one of the other, or an independant shunned by both. "But I want to play a Camarilla Lasombra". Nope. This massive encompassing was of the Kindred was too easy for storytellers and limited what you could do with any given clan or character. In the old WOD, my favourite vampire game was Dark Ages, whereupon every conflict was internal, and there was no grand war between two huge organizations. In modern day, this pre-existant war was ever-frustrating. In Requiem, it is finished. If you argue that the fact that petty squables are all you can do now, laud it if you will - I celebrate the fact.

4) Is There Any Real Mystery?: Though the writers of VtM liked to toss in suggestions that maybe Caine never existed or maybe the Antideluvians aren't real, they clearly were. This mythology was loved by many, not by me, because though it was nice as a piece of mythology alone, this was a game, and the most important thing in a game is the players having fun. Knowing that there were omnipotent and utterly evil people above you who control your every action and who you'll never, EVER, be able to compete with isn't really very much fun. A lot of people have complained that Requiem lacks any Metaplot, but in truth, it's moreso that the Metaplot isn't given. The origins of vampire really is a mystery in Requiem, and one that storytellers should be encouraged to look at for themselves, rather than regurgitating what they read. Earlier in these posts, someone mentioned that the more sourcebooks you buy, the fewer original ideas you have. I agree heartily. In Requiem, it's not that the mythology doesn't exist at all, it's just that there isn't one dominant mythology that can more or less be accepted as fact. I think this can make for much more mystery and fun than the VtM system.

5) The Phony Prince: My last major annoyance that was fixed in Requiem was that in VtM, Archons and other constantly loomed above the Prince, leaving him or her with very little real power. The title of "Prince" was more ceremonial than functional, and Princes could be overturned easily, with so many others above that were eager to step in. Not in Requiem. Now the Prince has real power, and nobody is telling him or her what to do (or are they...). This makes for a lot more struggling with internal politics in individual cities, and more of a struggle to become Prince. In VtM, several times characters I've played with have turned down opportunities to become Prince because it carried great danger but little real authority. This was a problem, and now, blissfully, it isn't.

In closing, many have complained that The Requiem ruins a good thing, calling out that "If it ain't broke, why fix it?". And as the title of this review mentioned, the VtM system gave a lot more for readers, with its emersive and deep mythology that was so interesting. However, I believe Requiem will be more fun for players, and that, in my opinion, is the most important thing. If you disagree, then by all means, keep playing Masquerade. Granted, no new books for it will be coming out, but there were already way too many to begin with. If you don't have the books and mourn that you can't buy them...well, look hard, and ye shall find. But give this game a chance...I really think it keep much of what made VtM great, but makes it freer, more open, and most importantly, more in the hands of the players and storytellers.

Review: A new interpretation of the modern vampire mythos
Excellent and worth every penny you dish out. Vampire has not only revolutionized roleplaying, but it has become a cornerstone of the gaming industry in the horror genre. Following such greats as Call of Cthulhu and Chill, Vampire (and subsequently Werewolf and Mage) are the core games of White Wolf. Definitely of a mature nature, these games will offer you the opportunity to adopt the role of one of the undead. You get to belong to one of five Blood Clans and join one of five great Covenants. You can be a sensual Daeva or a lordly Ventrue, a hideous Nosferatu or a stalwart Mekhet. This new game is a must for any who want to experience X-files type investigative horror or tell stories in the World of Darkness (but you must buy the World of Darkness Rulebook which gives you all the crunchy rules). This leaves the setting book of Vampire the Requiem to concentrate on all the horrific and beautiful aspects of playing one of the children of the night.

Get it, you wont regret it!

Review: What happened
I love the old world of darkness. Granted i was more in to the noval then the RPG side of it. It had such a rich history. The best part being the fact that cain was the father of all vampire, cused by god for the killing of his brother.The antediluvians were grate to, the i dear that out there in the shadows lay terrofing monsters just weighting for the time to rise up and fall a pone there childen. For years i read the noval and the RPG books and loved it. Hunter and demons were all grate reads as well. Then the end came. In some way i was sad but in other way not. You were going to find out the truth about the antediluvians and cain. But in the end you didn't really did we. Before we no it it was all over. The last vampire novel wasn't to bad, but the RPG WAS A GRATE LET DOWN. so when i herd they were starting new world of darkness up i was so happy, that was untill i got this book and found out that all i loved from the old one was gone. No 13 clans, not antediluvans or cain. This will most likly be the last white wolf book i will buy. it sad when something you come to love is destoryed.

Review: Solid
I have been a World of Darkness gamer for the past 5 years or so, and while the new system alters many aspects of the world (including some aspects that people found endearing), the majority of changes are for the best, and make the game more clear, concise, and fun. Ultimately, Vampire: The Requiem is more accessible and equally as engaging as its celebrated predecessor.

Review: Old times were better..
This is my first review ever and English is not my native language so please be patient with me.

Well, as many other players I began with Vampire back in 1991 and it's been the coolest game I've ever played. Along came Werewolf, Mage, the great WRAITH and the, um, "curious" Changeling. As a "fan" of crossovers I always found it difficult to mix character types but I'll tell you what: my players trembled when they saw me pull out Werewolf from the shelf.

Much of the complexity of the old World of Darkness derived from the fact that...it was a complex, almost "real" world. So I'm not complaining about how difficult it was to pit Gnosis against Arete, or about complex questions like, if a Mage kills a guy, why doesn't he need to make a sorta Humanity roll? The game developers explained that each game had a series of themes, topics and moods to explore and THAT was great, if you ask me!

Now, I was beginning to think that, with so much material, the OWoD was, let's say, exhausted. In a way I understood, albeit grundingly, the "move" to a new system and all that fanfare. I am now preparing a Gehenna chronicle to end ten years of game and I'll certainly use all and every book I have.

Enter The Requiem. Nice cover, great design. Period. Look, I'm not going to bitch and moan: I only want BACKGROUND and STORY.
What's SO horribly wrong about metaplot? I mean, so far, you COULD use it or NOT. I certainly don't own the entire OWoD bibliography, but that doesn't jeopardize my enjoyment of the games. The five (six, Orpheus) of them. Now, I have read some commentaries by WW staff and fans alike stating that "players won't feel LIMITED by any sort of metaplot". Right, so, it's for FREEDOM's sake that there's no metaplot. I'm sorry WW, I'm a "loyal Wolfer" but I don't buy it. And even if I did, I don't like it.

Some time ago I arrived at the conclussion that the more sourcebooks you get, the lazier you become. We want "ready-to-go" stories and every world detail presented so we ST don't have to think very much. Yet, the Requim approach takes this to the other extreme. I have bought a couple of sourcebooks and, honestly, I've only finished "Rites of the Dragon". And that's because it's SHORT. I don't see myself buying more, since my group of players don't like the Requiem.

I had high hopes for Werewolf. Really. You see, I thought it was a game with great potential. The Forsaken is, um, bad, a bad game.

I STILL have faith in Mage. The previews look at least interesting, but without an adequate storyline its fate may be as uncertain and the rest.

So, to sum up: the Requiem is a watered down version, more limited (note: someone mentioned in the old Vampire you only got 13 clans and now you have like 30 combinations; please, do realize that those 13 clans had antitribu versions and that you could play them Camarilla, Sabbat, Anarch, Independent...) and without a bigger picture to reffer to. No real creation mythos, simple political outmaneuvering. No generation, no Jyhad, no Eternal Struggle, no Gehenna, no ancients...No element that you may use as a real threat. Only silly skirmishes over a city. Please. Some players DO like complex stories, ages-long chronicles and even a bit of confusion and uncertainty. If someone argues that I could HAVE antediluvians in my Requiem games because now I'm so incredibly free...well, that's not the point. But in the end I'll keep playing the Masquerade as long as I can. Don't buy the Requiem, at least don't pay for the book. Get it from a friend and skim through it. Then THINK about the Masquerade and, like many others, you may feel this longing for the one true game. Conversely, if you like streamlined character creation, seamless character type interplay and cheap sourcebooks (it hurts me to write this, really) go for the Requiem. Welcome to the "limitless" possibilities of the absence of real background.






A Girl's Guide to Vampires (Mass Market Paperback)

From Booklist

All Joy Randall wants is a little old-fashioned romance, but when she participates in a "Goddess evoking" ceremony with her friend, Roxy, Joy finds out her future true love is a man with the potential to put her immortal soul in danger. At first the ever-practical Joy is ready to dismiss her vision as a product of too much gin and too many vampire romances, but while traveling through the Czech Republic with Roxy, Joy begins to have some second thoughts about her mystery lover because she is suddenly plagued by visions of a lethally handsome stranger. Then, when she and Roxy attend a local GothFaire, Joy meets Raphael Griffin St. John, head of security, and she becomes even more bewildered because the dark and dangerous Raphael seems too close to her dreams for comfort. Readers will gladly give in to the wickedly sharp bite of MacAlister's wit in this temptingly toothsome romance. With its superb characterization and writing that manages to be both sexy and humorous, this contemporary paranormal love story is an absolute delight.

Review: Just A Fun Book

If you're a fan of vampire romantic fiction, you'll enjoy this one. The basic premise is that our heroine, Joy, is accompanying her friend Roxy on a trip to the Czech Republic to try to visit a reclusive author of romantic vampire fiction and to explore whether or not vampires do exist. Joy is a disbeliever but she doesn't want Roxy to do this on her own, so she agrees to go along. Naturally, Joy is the one the vampire takes an interest in. In her acknowledgements Ms. MacAlister thanks Christine Feehan, so it's not surprising that the reclusive author's vampires have a marked tongue-in-cheek resemblance to Feehan's Carpathians, including the inclusion of a series of steps to soulmate-hood. If you like Feehan's books, you'll enjoy Roxy's obsession with the Rules of the Dark Ones.
This book was just so funny in sections that I laughed out loud. The heroine wasn't a petite little thing (a wonderful change of pace); the hero was mysterious and sexy; the setting was a nice change of pace - a GothFest in the Czech Republic; and the secondary characters were fleshed out enough to make them interesting and relevant. All and all, it was just a fun book and I enjoyed it.

Review: Katie is A Wonder!
Well first off I have to say that if you want to read a book that is full of humor, hot, sticky, passionate love scenes, great heros and fantastic heroines, story lines that keep you reading long after you should be asleep, then read a book by Katie MacAlister. I have read everything she's published so far and I eagerly await more.
One thing I really like about the way Katie writes is that she writes as if this were her story. You don't find many authors writting in the 1st person so its refreshing to read Katie's books.

A Girl's Guide To Vampires is a thrill ride. You have a lot of suspense and danger that keeps you guessing until the end. You have two wonderfully funny friends, Joy, the Heroine and Roxy the adorable best friend. The hero Raphael is.... Well let's just say I want one exactly like him! Raphael's rival Christian ain't too shabby himself.

Review: I even loved the cover of this book. Its way to cute!
All in all I have to say that this is a WINNER!!!!
Run, don't walk to buy this book.

Review: Good, but not her best
Katie Macalister is a brilliant writer with a flair for the funny. This particular book was well written with an interesting plot. She did set up the next book quite nicely. I was just a little disappointed that there were two guys who you were rooting for...one was bound to loose, and although he has his own book, it was still a little disappointing at the way she created a love triangle. Overall, although it isn't my favorite of her books, it is still a great one!

Review: A Girl's Guide to Vampires
This was a good one in her series, but not the best. I did like it but only because it follows other people in the whole series. Would I reccomend it? Yep! I will keep it for my collection. Go Katie! Keep writing for us vampire lovers.

Review: Loved it and the next two! Looking forward to reading more from this author!

I just finished reading the first 14 stories in the Carpathian series by Feehan - I fell over backwards when I started this series immediatly afterwards and found several references to the Caprapthian series!!

These books are funny! They are sexy! They each have a different plot line and make good use of former books characters!! Which seems to be missing in alot of the paranormal romances that are supposedly written to be in the form of a series.

These books compair favorably to Harris' "Dead as..." series and Davidson's "Undead and..." series!! I'm looking forward to reading more from this author

Vampire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article contains information that has not been verified.
If you are familiar with the subject matter, please expand the article, citing sources.
For other uses, see Vampire (disambiguation).

Count Orlok from NosferatuVampires are mythical or folkloric creatures said to subsist on human and/or animal blood (hematophagy), often having unnatural powers, heightened bodily functions, and/or the ability to transform. Some cultures have myths of non-human vampires, such as demons or animals like bats, dogs, and spiders. Vampires are often described as having a variety of additional powers and character traits, extremely variable in different traditions, and are a frequent subject of folklore, cinema, and contemporary fiction.

Vampirism is the practice of drinking blood from a person/animal. Vampires are said to mainly bite the victims neck, extracting the blood from a main artery. In folklore and popular culture, the term generally refers to a belief that one can gain supernatural powers by drinking human blood. The historical practice of vampirism can generally be considered a more specific and less commonly occurring form of cannibalism. The consumption of another's blood has been used as a tactic of psychological warfare intended to terrorize the enemy, and it can be used to reflect various spiritual beliefs.

In zoology, the term vampirism is used to refer to leeches, mosquitos, mistletoe, vampire bats, and other organisms that prey upon the bodily fluids of other creatures. This term also applies to mythic animals of the same nature, including the chupacabra.

Etymology
English vampire comes from German Vampir, in turn from early Old Polish *vaper' (where a is a nasal a, and both p and r' are palatalized), in turn from Old Slavic *oper (with a nasal o) or Old Church Slavonic opiri. The Slavic word, like its cognate netopyr' ("bat"), comes from the PIE root for "to fly".

Vampires in ancient cultures
Tales of the dead craving blood are ancient in nearly every culture around the world. Vampire-like spirits called the Lilu are mentioned in early Babylonian demonology. These female demons were said to roam during the hours of darkness, hunting and killing newborn babies and pregnant women. One of these demons, named Lilitu, was later adapted into Jewish demonology as Lilith. Lilitu/Lilith is sometimes called the mother of all vampires. For further information, see the article on Lilith.

The Ancient Egyptian goddess Sekhmet in one myth became full of blood lust after slaughtering humans and was only sated after drinking alcohol colored as blood.

In Homer's Odyssey, the shades that Odysseus meets on his journey to the underworld are lured to the blood of freshly sacrificed rams, a fact that Odysseus uses to his advantage to summon the shade of Tiresias. Roman tales describe the strix, a nocturnal bird that fed on human flesh and blood. The Roman strix is the source of the Romanian vampire, the Strigoi, which was also influenced by the Slavic vampire, and the Albanian Shtriga.

In early Slavic folklore, a vampire drank blood, was afraid of (but could not be killed by) silver and could be destroyed by cutting off its head and putting it between the corpse's legs or by putting a wooden stake into its heart.

Medieval historians and chroniclers Walter Map and William of Newburgh recorded the earliest English stories of vampires in the 12th century.

Many vampire legends also bear similarities to legends regarding succubi or incubi.

Folk beliefs in vampires
It seems that until the 19th century, vampires in Europe were thought to be hideous monsters rather than the debonair vampire made popular by later fictional treatments. They were usually believed to rise from the bodies of suicide victims, criminals, or evil sorcerers, though in some cases an initial vampire thus "born of sin" could pass on his vampirism onto his innocent victims. In other cases, however, a victim of an untimely or cruel death was susceptible of becoming a vampire. Most of the European vampire myths have Slavic and/or Romanian origins.

Slavic vampires
The Slavic people including most east Europeans from Russia to Bulgaria, Serbia to Poland, have the richest vampire folklore and legends in the world. The Slavs came from north of the Black Sea and were closely associated with the Balts. Prior to 8th century AD they migrated north and west to where they are now.

Christianization began almost as soon as they arrived in their new homelands. However, through the 9th and 10th centuries, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the western Roman Catholic Church were struggling with each other for supremacy. They formally broke in 1054 AD, with the Bulgarians, Russians, and Serbians staying Orthodox, while the Poles, Czechs, and Croatians went Roman. This split caused a big difference in the development of vampire lore - the Orthodox church believed incorrupt bodies were saints, while the Roman church believed they were vampires.

Causes of vampirism included being born with a caul, teeth, or tail, being conceived on certain days, irregular death, excommunication, improper burial rituals etc. Preventative measures included: placing a crucifix in the coffin, or blocks under the chin to prevent the body from eating the shroud, nailing clothes to coffin walls for the same reason, or piercing the body with thorns or stakes.

Evidence that a vampire was at work in the neighbourhood included death of cattle, sheep, relatives, neighbours, exhumed bodies being in a lifelike state with new growth of the fingernails or hair, or if the body was swelled up like a drum, or there was blood on the mouth and if the corpse had a ruddy complexion.

Vampires could be destroyed by staking, decapitation (the Kashubs placed the head between the feet), burning, repeating the funeral service, holy water on the grave or exorcism.

Romanian vampires
Tales of vampiric entities were also found among the ancient Romans and among the Romanized inhabitants of eastern Europe, Romanians (known as Vlachs in historical context). Romania is surrounded by Slavic countries, so it is not surprising that Romanian vampires are similar to the Slavic vampire. They are called Strigoi based on the Roman term strix for screech owl, which also came to mean demon or witch.

There are different types of strigoi. Strigoi vii are live witches who will become vampires after death. They can send out their soul at night to meet with other witches or with Strigoi morti who are dead vampires. The strigoi morti are the reanimated bodies which return to suck the blood of family, livestock, and neighbours.

A person born with a caul, tail, born out of wedlock, or one who died an unnatural death, or died before baptism, was doomed to become a vampire, as was the seventh child of the same sex in a family, the child of a pregnant woman who didn't eat salt or who was looked at by a vampire, or a witch. Moreover, being bitten by vampire, meant certain condemnation to a vampiric existence after death.

The Vârcolac which is sometimes mentioned in folklore was more closely related to a mythological wolf that could devour the sun and moon (similar to Fenris in Norse mythology), and later became connected with werewolves rather than vampires. The person afflicted with lycanthropy could turn into a dog, pig, or wolf.

The vampire was usually first noticed when it attacked family and livestock, or threw things around in the house. Vampires, along with witches, were believed to be most active on the Eve of St George's Day (April 22 Julian, May 4 Gregorian calendar), the night when all forms of evil were supposed to be abroad. St George's Day is still celebrated in Europe.

A vampire in the grave could be told by holes in the earth, an undecomposed corpse with a red face, or having one foot in the corner of the coffin. Living vampires were found by distributing garlic in church and seeing who did not eat it.

Graves were often opened three years after death of a child, five years after the death of a young person, or seven years after the death of an adult to check for vampirism.

Measures to prevent a person becoming a vampire included, removing the caul from a newborn and destroying it before the baby could eat any of it, careful preparation of dead bodies, including preventing animals from passing over the corpse, placing a thorny branch of wild rose in the grave, and placing garlic on windows and rubbing it on cattle, especially on St George's & St Andrew's days.

To destroy a vampire, a stake was driven through the body followed by decapitation and placing garlic in the mouth. By the 19th century people were shooting a bullet through the coffin. For resistant cases, the body was dismembered and the pieces burned, mixed with water, and given to family members as a cure.

Roma and vampires
Even today, Roma frequently feature in vampire fiction and film, no doubt influenced by Bram Stoker's book "Dracula" in which the Szgany Roma served Dracula, carrying his boxes of earth and guarding him.

Traditional Romani beliefs include the idea that the dead soul enters a world similar to ours except that there is no death. The soul stays around the body and sometimes wants to come back. The Roma myths of the living dead added to and enriched the vampire myths of Hungary, Romania, and Slavic lands.

The ancient home of the Roma, India, has many mythical vampire figures. The Bhuta is the soul of a man who died an untimely death. It wanders around animating dead bodies at night and attacks the living like a ghoul. In northern India could be found the brahmaparusha, a vampire-like creature with a head encircled by intestines and a skull from which it drank blood.

The most famous Indian deity associated with blood drinking is Kali, who has fangs, wears a garland of corpses or skulls and has four arms. Her temples are near the cremation grounds. She and the goddess Durga battled the demon Raktabija who could reproduce himself from each drop of blood spilled. Kali drank all his blood so none was spilled, thereby winning the battle and killing Raktabija.

Sara, or the Black Goddess, is the form in which Kali survived among gypsies. Gypsies have a belief that the three Marys from the New Testament went to France and baptised a gypsy called Sara. They still hold a ceremony each May 24th in the French village where this is supposed to have occurred. Some refer to their Black Goddess as "Black Cally" or "Black Kali".

One form of vampire in Romani myth is called a mullo (one who is dead). This vampire is believed to return and do malicious things and/or suck the blood of a person (usually a relative who had caused their death, or hadn't properly observed the burial ceremonies, or who kept the deceased's possessions instead of destroying them as was proper).

Female vampires could return, lead a normal life and even marry but would exhaust the husband.

Anyone who had a hideous appearance, was missing a finger, or had animal appendages, etc., was believed to be a vampire. If a person died unseen, he would become a vampire; likewise if a corpse swelled before burial. Plants or dogs, cats, or even agricultural tools could become vampires. Pumpkins or melons kept in the house too long would start to move, make noises or show blood. (See the article on vampire watermelons.)

To get rid of a vampire people would hire a Dhampir (the son of a vampire and his widow) or a Moroii (the much rarer living, as opposed to undead, offspring of two vampires) to detect the vampire. To ward off vampires, gypsies drove steel or iron needles into a corpse's heart and placed bits of steel in the mouth, over the eyes, ears and between the fingers at the time of burial. They also placed hawthorn in the corpse's sock or drove a hawthorn stake through the legs. Further measures included driving stakes into the grave, pouring boiling water over it, decapitating the corpse, or burning it.

According to the late Serbian ethnologist Tatomir Vukanovic, Roma people in Kosovo believed that vampires were invisible to most people. However, they could be seen "by a twin brother and sister born on a Saturday who wear their drawers and shirts inside out." Likewise, a settlement could be protected from a vampire "by finding a twin brother and sister born on a Saturday and making them wear their shirts and drawers inside out (cf previous section). This pair could see the vampire out of doors at night, but immediately it saw them it would have to flee, head over heels."

Other Old World vampires
In Ancient Greece and Medieval Bulgaria the Lamia had the upper body of a woman, the lower body of a winged serpent and craved blood (especially the blood of women). Medieval and later Greek folklore features the vrykolakas, (which is now considered synonymous with "vampire").

In Moravia, vampires were fond of throwing off their shrouds and attacking their victims in the nude.

In Albania, a type of vampire known as the Liogat was supposed to be the reanimated corpse of Albanians of Turkish descent. It was covered in a shroud and wore high-heeled shoes. The only way to vanquish it was to have a wolf bite its legs off so it would never rise again from its grave.

In Bulgaria, a vampire had only one nostril and slept with his left eye open and his thumbs linked. It was held responsible for cattle plagues.

New World
In Aztec mythology, the Civatateo was a sort of vampire, created when a noblewoman died in childbirth.

Later Mexican vampires were easily recognizable by their fleshless skulls.
In the Caribbean, vampires known as Soucoyant in Trinidad and Tobago, Ol' Higue in Jamaica, and Loogaroo in Grenada, take the form of old women during the day, and at night shed their skin to become flying balls of flame who seek blood. They were said to be notoriously obsessive-compulsive, and could be thwarted by sprinkling salt or rice at entrances, crossroads and near beds. The vampire would feel compelled to pick up every grain. They could also be killed by rubbing salt into their discarded skin, which would burn them upon returning to it before morning.
The Rocky Mountain vampires sucked the blood out of its victim's ears using its pointed nose.
Brazilian vampires had plush-covered feet.

Asia and the Pacific
India is home to beliefs in a spirit called the vetala, a wraithly vampire that can leave its host body to feed.
In Japan, the kitsune is a vampiric shapeshifting fox-spirit that takes its origins from both Chinese and Indian mythology. Kitsune may be either maleficent or benevolent, or both; kitsune are said to drain the life-force of its victims after charming them or becoming their lover, in similar fashion as succubi or incubi. Oni myths also have similarities with Western vampire legends. There are also tales of kamaitachi, a phenomenon where it was said that evil gods would thirst for human blood.

The Chinese vampire, the hopping corpse (jiangshi), has more in common with Western ideas of corporeal zombies or ghouls but is still depicted as draining the victim of blood.

In Philippine folklore, the Manananggal was a female vampire whose entire upper body could separate from her lower body and who could fly using wings. She sucked the blood of fetuses. The Aswang was believed to always be a female of considerable beauty by day and, by night, a fearsome flying fiend. She lived in a house, could marry and have children, and was a seemingly normal human during the daylight hours.

In Malaysian folklore, the Penanggalan was a vampire whose head could separate from its body, with its entrails dangling from the base of its neck. The Pontianak was a female vampire that sucked the blood of newborn babies and sometimes that of young children or pregnant women.

In Australian aboriginal mythology, the yara-ma-yha-who is a creature with octopus-like suckers on its fingers that it uses to suck blood.

Eighteenth century vampire controversy
During the 18th century there was a major vampire scare in Eastern Europe. Even government officials frequently got dragged into the hunting and staking of vampires.

The word vampire only came into the English language in 1732 via an English translation of a German report of the much-publicized Arnold Paole vampire staking in Serbia.

It all started with an outbreak of alleged vampire attacks in East Prussia in 1721 and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1725 to 1734. Two famous cases involved Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paole. As the story goes, Plogojowitz died at the age of 62, but came back a couple of times after his death asking his son for food. When the son refused, he was found dead the next day. Soon Plogojowitz returned and attacked some neighbours who died from loss of blood.

In the other famous case, Arnold Paole, an ex-soldier turned farmer who had allegedly been attacked by a vampire years before, died while haying. After his death, people began to die, and it was believed by everyone that Paole had returned to prey on the neighbours.

These two incidents were extremely well documented. Government officials examined the cases and the bodies, wrote them up in reports, and books were published afterwards of the Paole case and distributed around Europe. The controversy raged for a generation. The problem was exacerbated by rural epidemics of so-claimed vampire attacks, with locals digging up bodies. Many scholars said vampires did not exist, and attributed reports to premature burial, or rabies. Nonetheless, Dom Augustine Calmet, a well-respected French theologian and scholar, put together a carefully thought out treatise in 1746 in which he claimed vampires did exist. This had considerable influence on other scholars at the time.

Eventually, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria sent her personal physician to investigate. He concluded that vampires do not exist, and the Empress passed laws prohibiting the opening of graves and desecration of bodies. This was the end of the vampire epidemics. By then, though, many knew about vampires, and soon authors would adopt and adapt the concept of vampire, making it known to the general public.

Contemporary belief in vampires
Belief in vampires still persists across the globe.

During late 2002 and early 2003, hysteria about alleged attacks of vampires swept through the African country of Malawi. Mobs stoned one individual to death and attacked at least four others, including Governor Eric Chiwaya, due to a belief that the government was colluding with vampires.[1]

In Romania, several relatives of Toma Petre dug up his body, tore out his heart, burned the organ and drank its ashes in water in February of 2004, thinking that he had become a vampire.[2]

In January 2005, it was reported that an attacker had bitten a number of people in Birmingham, England, fuelling concerns about a vampire roaming the streets. However, local police stated that no such crimes had been reported to them, and this case appears to be an urban legend.[3]

In the modern folklore of Latin America, the chupacabra (goat-sucker) is a vampiric creature that feeds upon domesticated animals. Some attacks were reported around the mid-1990's.

Traits of vampires
Vampires, being already dead, do not need most normal things required for human life, such as oxygen. They often have a pale appearance, and are cool to the touch from the perspective of humans.

Vampires are sometimes considered to be shape-shifters, though this feature is more commonly present in fiction than in the original folklore.

Some vampires can fly. Sometimes this is supernatural, other times it is connected to the vampire's ability to turn into flying creatures (e.g., bats, owls, flies) or into lightweight forms (e.g. straw, dust, smoke) and then create winds as a means of propulsion.
Vampires typically cast no shadow and have no reflection. This mythical power is largely confined to European vampiric myths and may be tied to folklore regarding the vampire's lack of a soul. In modern fiction, this may extend to the idea that vampires cannot be photographed.
Some tradititions hold that a vampire cannot enter a house unless he or she is invited in. This concept has been referenced throughout the history of vampire fiction (from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula to Stephen King's novel 'Salem's Lot). Generally, however, after the first time the vampire is invited in he or she can come and go as desired.

Vampire powers are often limited during the day or in daylight. In some cases sunlight may burn or kill vampires, or they may be comatose during the day.

Vampires may be reluctant to enter or cross bodies of water.
Some tales maintain that vampires must return to their native soil before sunrise to take their rest safely. This property may be related to phenomena involving digging up corpses to see if they were vampires.

Vampires in some tales have very specific dietary requirements while others do not. However, most tales of the undead feature vampires that cannot eat (or at least cannot gain nourishment from) normal human food.

There are things in which vampires have no power against such as garlic, a branch of wild rose, and all things sacred (e.g., holy water, a crucifix, a rosary, or sacred objects from other faiths). This weakness fluctuates depending on the tale. Garlic is confined mostly to European vampire legends. In myths of other regions, other plants of holy or mythical properties sometimes have similar effects. Holy water and other holy symbols depend upon the culture. In Eastern vampiric myths, vampires are often similarly warded by holy devices such as Shinto seals.

There are three main ways to destroy a typical European vampire: a sacred bullet, a wooden stake through the heart, or decapitation. This includes other means of death that effectively removes a vampire's head, such as incinerating the body completely.
Old folklore from Eastern Europe suggests that many vampires suffered from a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, being fascinated with counting. Millet or poppy seeds were placed on the ground at the gravesite of a presumed vampire, in order to keep the vampire occupied all night counting. Chinese myths about vampires also state that if a vampire comes across a sack of rice, s/he will have to count all of the grains. Aside from the Muppet character of Count von Count on Sesame Street this characteristic seems to have largely disappeared from popular culture. It was also referenced in an episode of The X-Files.

Natural phenomena that propagate the vampire myth

Pathology and vampirism
Some people argue that vampire stories might have been influenced by a rare illness called porphyria. The disease disrupts the production of heme. People with extreme but rare cases of this hereditary disease can be so sensitive to sunlight that they can get a sunburn through heavy cloud cover, causing them to avoid sunlight — although it should be noted that the idea that vampires are harmed by sunlight is largely from modern fiction and not the original beliefs. Certain forms of porphyria are also associated with neurological symptoms, which can create psychiatric disorders. However, the hypotheses that porphyria sufferers crave the heme in human blood, or that the consumption of blood might ease the symptoms of porphyria, are based on a severe misunderstanding of the disease. There is very little evidence to suggest that porphyria had anything to do with the development of the original folklore. [4]

Others argue that there is a relationship between vampirism and rabies.

There have been a number of murderers who performed this seemingly vampiric ritual upon their victims. Serial killers Peter Kurten and Richard Trenton Chase were both called "vampires" in the tabloids after they were discovered drinking the blood of the people they murdered, for example. Legends that Erzsébet Báthory, a medieval Hungarian aristocrat, murdered hundreds of women in bizarre rituals involving blood, helped mold contemporary vampire legends.

Some psychologists in modern times recognize a disorder called clinical vampirism (or Renfield's syndrome, from Dracula's insect-eating henchman in the novel by Bram Stoker) in which the victim is obsessed with drinking blood, either from animals or humans.

Finding vampires in graves
When the coffin of an alleged vampire was opened, people sometimes found the cadaver in a relatively undecomposed state, which could have been interpreted as the corpse being the equivalent of a well-fed vampire. Folkloric accounts almost universally represent the alleged vampire as having ruddy or dark skin, not the pale skin of vampires in literature and film. In the past, people were often malnourished and therefore thin in life, which could account for the pale skin often referred to. Corpses swell as gases from decomposition accumulate in the torso and blood tries to escape the body. During decomposition blood can often be seen emanating from nose and mouth, which could give the impression that the corpse was a vampire who had been drinking blood. Natural processes of decomposition, absent embalming, tend to darken the skin of a corpse — hence the black, blue, or red complexion of the folkloric vampire.

Vampire bats
Bats have become an integral part of the vampire myth only recently, although many cultures have myths about them. In Europe, bats and owls were long associated with the supernatural, mainly because they were night creatures. On the other hand, the gypsies thought them lucky and wore charms made of bat bones. In English heraldic tradition, a bat means "Awareness of the powers of darkness and chaos"[5]. In South America, Camazotz was a bat god of the caves living in the Bathouse of the Underworld.

The three species of actual vampire bats are all endemic to Latin America, and there is no evidence to suggest that they had any Old World relatives within human memory. It is therefore extremely unlikely that the folkloric vampire represents a distorted presentation or memory of the bat. During the 16th century the Spanish conquistadors first came into contact with vampire bats and recognized the similarity between the feeding habits of the bats and those of their mythical vampires. The bats were named after the folkloric vampire rather than vice versa; the Oxford English Dictionary records the folkloric use in English from 1734 and the zoological not until 1774. It wasn't long before vampire bats were adapted into fictional tales, and they have become one of the more important vampire associations in popular culture.

A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels and Other Subversive Spirits (Paperback)

Amazon.com
The Macks divert our gaze from our contemporary red-faced, cloven-hoofed misrepresentation of demons to remind us of the ancient roles demons were originally assigned to play. From the Tommyknockers of North American mountain mines to the South African Mbulu that waits in the river for lone travelers, A Field Guide to Demons classifies these creatures by their domains--water, mountain, forest--rather than in alphabetical or cultural order, dishing out antique and contemporary lore on these most misunderstood of spirits. A Field Guide to Demons melds folklore and mythology; maintains a surprisingly evenhanded view of demons; and reveals their role as the necessary challenger to established order, the antagonist--without which there could be no hero--and the darkness through which goodness shines brightest. --Brian Patterson--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reviews

"A round of applause for this demonic cast of characters . . . They let us glimpse other people's demons, and many of our very own." --Anna Deavere Smith, author of Fires in the Mirror

"An array of the most dreaded demons mythology has to offer." --Robert L. Carniero, Curator of South American Ethnology, American Museum of Natural History

Robert L. Carniero, Curator of South American Ethnology, American Museum of Natural History
"An array of the most dreaded demons mythology has to offer."

Review
"A round of applause for this demonic cast of characters . . . They let us glimpse other people's demons, and many of our very own." --Anna Deavere Smith, author of Fires in the Mirror

"An array of the most dreaded demons mythology has to offer." --Robert L. Carniero, Curator of South American Ethnology, American Museum of Natural History

Book Description
Watch your back! . . . How to spot and identify demons and other subversive spirits . . . And what to do next.

Demons, fairies, and fallen angels are everywhere. They lurk at crossroads, crouch behind doors, hide in trees, slip into beds, wait in caves, hover at weddings and childbirths, disguise themselves as friends, relatives-even disguise themselves as you. They are powerful; they are protean; they are enchanting. And, to the uninformed, they are often invisible. This illustrated guide-the first of its kind-reveals the remarkable permutations of the demon and fairy species worldwide. Packed with lore about each demon, detailing its origins, the culture surrounding it, and its reputed antics and exploits, A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits is a fascinating exploration of global mythologies. Perfect for the armchair traveler and the intrepid, seasoned demon-spotter alike, this complete guide to subversive spirits offers a behind-the-scenes look at the devilish mishaps, impish irritations, and demonic devastations that punctuate our lives.

About the Author

Carol Mack is an award-winning playwright with a master's degree in religious studies. Her daughter, Dinah Mack, a writer, earned her master's degree in cultural anthropology.

Review: Forewarned is Forearmed
This is a great reference work: useful, accessible and well organised. The demons, fairies and other mythical beings featured in this book were taken from the legends and folklore of several cultures and they are grouped according to their place of residence: water, mountain, forest, desert, domicile and psyche. Each chapter includes a short description of the creature's appearance, habits and preferences; one of two stories of encounters with it; and a section on disarming and dispelling techniques.
This guide includes some fascinating creatures, such as the Japanese Kappa and its surprising eating habits, the helpful and friendly Norwegian Nisse, the extremely fragile Australian Mimi, and the Chinese Madame White, who gives a whole new meaning to the expression femme fatale. Some better known beings like mermaids and werewolves are also featured. The Macks' writing style is clear and engaging, sometimes tongue-in-cheek but never disrespectful to other cultures. The detailed information on how to deal with these creatures is particularly useful; if you ever encounter any of them you'll know what to do to be able to tell the tale.

Review: Great Reference Book
You could spend lots of money on all kinds of folklore & mythology books, and still not have as much information on the "darker entities" as this book.

Each entry is very detailed with description, habitations, sightings, etc.

I think this book would make a great gift for anyone interested in the supernatural, or even RPG GM's looking for new ways to torture their players... ;)

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