01-22-2011, 12:36 AM
Rafael Wrote:Aldarron Wrote:Ah, well I think the horror movies that Dave loved are too easily glossed over when one thinks of sources. Blackmoor castle in its abandoned state, "feels" not unlike Dracula's castle - an abandoned ediface on a rocky outcrop filled with ghosts and with a creepy old dungeon ruled by a vampire (Sir Fang).
There's also the "van Helsing" model used to create the Cleric class - both being doctors/healers who hunt and destroy unlife.
Isn't that a bit far fetched? I mean, there are so many vampires throughoutliterary history, it doesn't really have to be that particular one.
The same goes for Van Helsing as a model for clerics. Possible, but not demanding a conenction.
Well, no, when you consider this is 1970 and the american midwest we are talking about. There really were no other famous vampires or vampire stories. Dracula was it. That was the time frame when the Christofer Lee Dracula was so influential on the image of vampires, although Bela Lugosi sort of laid that ground work. (Lee of course later being brought in for nostalgia roles in Lotr and Star Wars - brilliant performances both.) And of course, Arneson said he was influenced by the horror movies he loved.
As for the van helsing model of the cleric, here is what Mike Mornard said about it
"Then there was Dave Arneson’s first miniatures/roleplaying campaign. Some players were ‘good guys’ and some players were ‘bad guys’ and Dave was the referee.
One of the ‘bad guys’ wanted to play a Vampire. He was extremely smart and capable, and as he got more and more experience he got tougher and tougher.
This was the early 70s, so the model for ‘vampire’ was Christopher Lee in Hammer films. No deep folklore .
Well, after a time, nobody could touch Sir Fang. Yes, that was his name.
To fix the threatened end of the game they came up with a character that was, at first, a ‘vampire hunter’. Peter Cushing in the same films.
As the rough specs were drawn up, comments about the need for healing and for curing disease came up.
Ta da, the “priest” was born. Changed later to ‘cleric’."
Note that Mike Carr's priests churrch is called the church of the facts of LIFE, and that priests could from the start turn UNLIFE. I think it was a pretty deliberate dichotomy based on van helsing.
I'll try to dig up a some better info on those dune parrallels tommorow if I can.