Quote:

Original post by Gorax I was just thinking about V:TM after I wrote that post. That was a good game, but it still lacked the beastly qualities of the vampires (at least to me). Then again, it is a fairly old game, so throwing people around while still having it look moderately realistic, wasn't really an option (and it still required you to be good (although it was funny to see your character go berserk and kill everybody around him)).

I mean the pen'n'paper game.

Possession by Blitz Games seems to fit the bill though I don't think there is much stealth involved in it. No publisher yet, so it might not see the light of day...

IGN Info and clips

Spree

Edit: Made it clickified

If you just play a monster and you need to hide from humans and survive, it will be lame. If such a game is made, it should be about tailing thegroup of humans, trying to scare them while remining hidden and such. The human NPC should be afraid of the player monster, not vica versa.

A typical level in this game should look like this:
A group of marines exploring a facility. They are well trained, armed and orginized, and they have sensors. You, the monster, can't attack them all together, because they will kill you. So you hide in the shadows, appearing in their sensors, only to be gone when they check it out. You see that the squad is going to a lab, so you are there before them. You kill all the people there. The marines hear the screams and rush to check is out, but you are not there, and all they can see is the blood and dead bodies of your victims. That way, you build tension and fear within the marines, until one of them breaks and run in terror. Then, you go after that guy, which is seperated from the group, and easily kill him. The marines try to catch him, but when they reach him, he his already dead, and they become more frightened.

In that type of gameplay, the monster is still the scary one, but there is enough chalange and danger. You have to avoid torrents, security cameras, lasers and security bots. You have to find alternate ways to get past the marines. And you have to work fast, before the marines find you and eliminate you.

[Edited by - someboddy on June 24, 2005 8:28:25 AM]

Quote:

Original post by GoraxI was just thinking about V:TM after I wrote that post. That was a good game, but it still lacked the beastly qualities of the vampires (at least to me). Then again, it is a fairly old game, so throwing people around while still having it look moderately realistic, wasn't really an option (and it still required you to be good (although it was funny to see your character go berserk and kill everybody around him)).

The V:TM cRPGs hardly represent the gameplay of the PnP version.
Yes, they translated the rules system, and that's something I am happy about because I like the Storyteller system, but the problem is that a lot of the cool bits that you get in the PnP version are just too hard to implement in the cRPG without the risk of breaking the game (for instance, in Vampire: Bloodlines, they had to abandon the level 3 Obfuscation power, Mask of a Thousand Faces, which allows you to turn disguise yourself into anyone, cos it was just too powerful for the game).

The atmosphere and the style of games that V:TM and the World of Darkness allow is very much dependent on the quality of the Storyteller.
It's very easy to turn a game into a fragfest with Ancient roaming the streets throwing cars at each other and ripping humans from limb to limb, if you don't have the right players.

That's one of the problems of judging a PnP roleplaying game. It's not so much the rules that make it good, but rather the kind of atmosphere they are designed to create.
In the case of Vampire, it's all about becoming more and more powerful, while simultaneously eroding your soul and turning into not much more than a feral beast in search of blood.

Which is why I think it would make a good source of inspiration.

Wraith the Oblivion would be even better, as the gameplay revolve around you constantly battling your Shadow, while trying to reach Transcendence.
The underworld is a dangerous place, and your Shadow can help you to overcome some obstacle, but ultimately its goal is to corrupt you and turn you to Oblivion. Most of your unlife is spent trying to get back to what you knew, while constantly being reminded of what you lost, what you can never have again. The only future for a Wraith is to finally end it all. Some lucky few find the way to transcend and become God knows what (nobody came back to tell), while most are simply swallowed by the all devouring Oblivion.
It's a deeply psychological game. Probably why they didn't keep it, too.

Destroy all humans, is a similar concept (although not in the Survival horror mood). You play an alien.

http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/destroy-all-humans/628712p1.html

Although not entirely the same vein, Messiah had the same sort of feel. As the cherub you were totally vulnerable but you used the humans to do all of your fighting.

You had to stalk around quite a lot of the time and people would be suspicious if they saw you take over someone.