From: flindholm@mta.ca
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Srun 2: Vampires
Date: 21 Nov 92 17:43:39 GMT
Reply-To: flindholm@mta.ca
Organization: Mount Allison U, Sackville, N.B. Canada

In article <20NOV199200591647@gergo.tamu.edu>, carl@gergo.tamu.edu (Carl D. Perkins) writes:
>In article <1992Nov18.191002.12702@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca>, flindholm@mta.ca writes...
>> My first comment is that the virus does not turn people into "living,
>>breathing,  eating, drinking" vampires. In Shadowrun vampires are not
>>alive like people are. They are alive because the virus kept them that 
>>way when they shuold have died of essance lose. They don't breathe and
>>can't drown, they can only go into a torpor under water. Finaly it says
>>right under the vampire description in the monster section that vampires
>>throw up within the hour if they eat food. Alcohol makes them spew in a 
>>couple minutes.
>>    On the good side, they can always be the designated driver.
>> 
>>                 Cyrus
>
>I disagree. In SR you should forget everything you think you know about
>Vampires as, in SR, they are simply parnormal beings who are, obviously,
>alive. A vampire is not made by draining all the essence out of a human
>(or a S. Sam. who goes too far would become one) but is a human who is
>infected with HMHVV. Any human who is infected (and does not successfully
>fight the infection) will become a vampire - no essence loss is needed.

  Wrong. Under Essance Drain it tells of the addiction to the estacy of 
being drained and what the charecter has to role to avoid it but does not
give target numbers to resist contracting the virus. More significant is
where it says, and I quote, "Only when a partner freely accepts the 
transition wiil such a vampire kill" and "There have also been cases where
a vampire has destroyed the victims BODY after draining his Essance, and 
thereby PREVENTING A NEW VAMPIRE FROM TAKING UP ITS NEW LIFE" 
  You only become a vampire if all your essance is drained and then it's 
automatic.

>Vampires do breath as well - any time they can's (such as when they are
>under water) they enter into the torpor state. If you put one in an airtight
>room they will also go into a torpor when the oxygen runs out. This has 
>nothing to do with them being alive or not - the virus is magically active
>an sustains the body magically when there is no oxygen for it to use, but
>it does so very inefficiently. This is simmilar to a Juggernaut's ability
>to use anarobic processes, but the Juggernaut does so with much greater
>efficiency.

  Your correct here, I looked it up and found I was mistaken.

 Vampires throw up food because they cannot handle solid food,
>that's why they drink blood. With the tech level in SR it is quight likely
>that a Vampire could survive drinking nutritional supplements available in
>any health-food store, or could if it weren't for the essence loss problem,
>anyway.

   Unfortunatly your wrong here. Vampires do not so much need nutrition 
as they need the the strong emotions neccesary for essanc drain. In 
Shadowrun Vampires only drink blood because it is neccesary in the 
essance drain process. This is clearly stated under the essance drain
power description. Nutition has no meaning to them. They live off
essance. Also, it states in the vampire desciption, and again I quote,
"Within a few minutes of eating or drinking, a vampire will evidence 
obvious distressand will vomit within an hour." Even if you wanted to 
feed them intraveniously it wouldn't work. The only way for them to
live is to feed on peoples essance.
       
                 Cyrus