Anita Blake Vampire hunter

[Black Rose]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

Not wanting to bash-n-plug, but...

 

I first started reading the Anita Blake books because the clerks at a second-hand bookstore wouldn't sell them to me! Apparently they had a rule that they'd only sell the books to people they knew well enough to trust that they would bring them back. I'm still really not sure what the sales strategy was there.

 

The setting started out pretty cool. I liked the characters as portrayed, and the feel that people with little actual power (Anita may be able to do certain things in the beginning, but she wasn't the powerhouse she is now) could make changes and "win the day". Anita herself seemed fairly reasonable in power.

 

Later, of course, it got bad. I can agree with Susano's point about all the weres being into BDSM. OTOH, there was a semi-reasonable justification for it in Lunatic Cafe; when your Alpha/Nimir-Raj is a sadistic icehole, the rot spreads through the whole group. Unfortunately, it looks like being Alpha turns you into a sadist (no save). I actually liked the wereleopards a lot; they seemed like fun people to hang out with, have a drink or three.

 

Plus, Anita seemed to get more powerful with each book. Now, having the main character grow in power isn't a bad thing, but the growth should be spread between several arenas; personal skill, supernatural growth, 'political' power, alliances, etc. Anita has become a big enough supernatural threat that the Vampire Council is almost treating her like an equal, and that's bad, IMO.

 

 

Now for the plug. Go forth and read Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden books. A witty protagonist, if a bit unwilling to bend his ethical stance (Harry, make the deal with the mob boss threatening your life; you can always screw him over later. You are the wizard in the relationship!) for much of anything. He seems to gain a favor or two in each book, but they're more reasonable than the ones in the ABVE books; okay, Dresden is friends with the local werewolf pack, but they're all in college and are still figuring out how to live as weres themselves. And Dresden seems to p*** off some unpleasant people in each book, and they don't ever quite seem to go away. And he never seems to have much money to work with, or a working car (magic tends to frag tech), or a decent relationship, or.... Get the idea? A bit more balance to the slowly improving mage in Chicago, as opposed to the world-bestriding colossus in St. Louis.

[Susano]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

Now for the plug. Go forth and read Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden books.

 

A friend has been raving about these.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

here we go, my initial shot at a writeup of Anita Blake

[Mutant for Hire]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

Now for the plug. Go forth and read Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden books.

Seconded. Harry is far from a Mary Sue. He's taken some damage over the course of the book, and I have no idea of how Butcher plans to resolve some of his more hellish problems.

 

In a similar vein, there's Simon Green's Nightside books. A very similar character, though there are some serious differences. The protagonist is a lot more powerful though he avoids being a Mary Sue mainly because he's got even more powerful enemies.

[Vondy]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

Alucard, little doubt in my mind. Anita's well past the point where she counts as 'human'.

 

Nice Lamour quote and some good points. I'm a little puzzled on OB, though. Given Anita has no sex in the book at all, I'm not sure which book you are talking about. The two books after that are closer to what you described. The most recent book was so bad in this was that basically the bad guy got away before Anita had no time away from the soap opera and sex, so couldn't solve the crime.

 

Its been a couple years since I read them. I could have been off by a book.

[Ramius]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

here we go' date=' my initial shot at a writeup of Anita Blake[/quote']

Nice ... about which book am I looking at?

 

Just finished rereading all of the books ... waiting for the next one at the end of this month

[Rapier]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one to be totally OVER LKH.

 

She was going along SO well until Anita Mary Sued. The last few books in the series took remarkably less time to read than they should have simply because I was able to skip 60 - 80 pages at a stretch, since I had no desire to read bad porn.

 

The stories no longer have any plot and the only conflict is genital friction.

 

The first few pages of each book are fairly good and kept me believing that she had come to her senses and was going to do something with the story. That doesn't last too long and the clothes hit the floor. YAWN.

 

There is also a serious problem with Anita's power level. She defeated the biggest baddest vampire in St Louis early on, then she defeated a vampire so old he wasn't even homo sapiens (originally). Then she defeated other big bad vampires in other cities and faced down members of the vampire council (and their immediate lackeys). What's next? Tokafanes before finishing her Wheaties?

 

At this point Anita Blake needs to be put on a shelf and quickly forgotten.

 

HOWEVER, all this aside? The general setting has some wonderful possibilities. I've even added bits and pieces of it to my campaign. The only problem is that if LKH ever spent some time developing the campaign, the game maps would probably look like clitori.

[Ramius]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one to be totally OVER LKH.

 

At this point Anita Blake needs to be put on a shelf and quickly forgotten.

 

HOWEVER, all this aside? The general setting has some wonderful possibilities. I've even added bits and pieces of it to my campaign. The only problem is that if LKH ever spent some time developing the campaign, the game maps would probably look like clitori.

Thank you for your opinion but you didn’t answer the original question.

 

Actually this goes out to most of the people who have posted in this thread.

 

Why is everyone so venomously in hate with these books?

I happened to have enjoyed all of them.

I just want to know why you people have taken the time to insult a book series that Shadowcat seems to be enjoying.

[Rapier]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

Thank you for your opinion but you didn’t answer the original question.

 

Actually this goes out to most of the people who have posted in this thread.

 

It does, in part. The reason I have never, and I would wager most of us have not, spent any time statting Anita out are for these very reasons.

 

Her powers snowballed from pretty decent to universe crashing in a very short period of time. The series also devolved into badly written porn with no plot. Since there was no plot and no real conflict it is difficult to get any kind of serious gauge on her power levels.

 

Further more, there was already one post with a character sheet in it...and if you are upset by tangents you aren't going to be very happy around here.

 

Why is everyone so venomously in hate with these books?

I happened to have enjoyed all of them.

I just want to know why you people have taken the time to insult a book series that Shadowcat seems to be enjoying.

 

Well, I could wax poetic about freedom of speech and our indomitable need to make our voices heard, but do I really need to?

 

You are more than welcome to enjoy the books and tell everyone just how much you liked them and why. We are just as welcome to do the same. I very much enjoyed the first four or six books in the series (I don't recall exactly when they went from fiction to porn) and was let down by the change in the tenor of the books.

 

He stated that he had not read them all, nor had he read them in order. I was simply telling him what he can expect in some of the other books. Something I would do for pretty much anyone.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

here we go' date=' my initial shot at a writeup of Anita Blake[/quote']

hmmm...

Seems a bit mix-n-match with the powers & skills... I'd really just pick a particular reference point in the series at where you want her power level to be and go with it throughout.

 

In any case... some further bits for consideration on a retrofit.

 

You're missing the general toughness and fast healing she has through most of the series. She has it in more books than not, so I'd give it to her. Maybe make the "link" powers Independent, as they do seem to have the potential to go away mostly for plot driven purposes.

 

While its had a number of various SFX in the series, you could probably roll a bunch of her abilities together into some kind of Aid construct... shes always boosting up other folks powers (in fact, I'd say Aid/Succor would be one of the more common supernatural powes in the setting).

 

The combat skills need a bit of work. A bunch of Targeting PSL's at the least... she usually seems to hit what she's aiming at. Mary Sue or not, even from the early books the girl can SHOOT. Given how well she deals with most of the supernatural creepie crawlies who are all supposed to be inhumanly fast, I'd not flinch at upping her spd to 4.

 

Lastly, her Necromancy needs some oomphing up. How much she can raise is very tied to what she uses as a sacrifice, and that should probably reflect in the write up. A Custom Lim on increased multiples for the summon is probably just the ticket. And she really should have a Power Skill for her necromancy... she's pulling off power stunts all the time, but they seem to mostly be one off, so the VPP route can probably be avoided.

 

Great starting point tho:thumbup: !

[Susano]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

Thank you for your opinion but you didn’t answer the original question.

 

Actually this goes out to most of the people who have posted in this thread.

 

Why is everyone so venomously in hate with these books?

I happened to have enjoyed all of them.

I just want to know why you people have taken the time to insult a book series that Shadowcat seems to be enjoying.

 

Have you read the posts being made to this thread?

 

I think I made it clear why I no longer like the books -- too much absurd sex, carbon-copy secondary characters, and an escalating power level that renders the character highly-uninteresting to read about.

 

And I wasn't trying to insult the series, merely state an opinion.

 

As for the posted character sheet -- it's been so long that I can't rightly say it is correct or not, but it looks fairly okay to me.

[Rapier]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

Lastly' date=' her Necromancy needs some oomphing up. How much she can raise is very tied to what she uses as a sacrifice, and that should probably reflect in the write up. A Custom Lim on increased multiples for the summon is probably just the ticket. And she really should have a Power Skill for her necromancy... she's pulling off power stunts all the time, but they seem to mostly be one off, so the VPP route can probably be avoided.[/quote']

 

A great deal of her necromancy made it into my campaign. I totally rewrote all the necromancy and blood magic spells along this line:

 

Raise Undead: 5d6 Summon (-1/4) Requires Small Sacrifice (eg Rat or 2 BODY)

Raise Boost I: +2d6 Summon (-1/2) Requires Medium Sacrifice (eg Chicken or 5 BODY)

Raise Boost II: +5d6 Summon (-1) Requires Large Sacrifice (eg Cow or 8 BODY)

Raise Boost III: +10d6 Summon (-2) Requires Human Sacrifice (caster can kill self to power spell, caster dies immediately after spell is cast)

 

An alternative build I've used on occassion is to charge the caster's mana pool with a BODY to END Reserve Transfer. The caster performs the sacrifice which Transfers the BODY from the sacrifice to an END Reserve and the spell sucks out enough END to drain most if not all of the Reserve.

[Susano]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

Why do you have d6 of Summon?

[Rapier]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

Why do you have d6 of Summon?

 

'Cause its 3am?

 

Actually the original model was for blood magic spells and I wasn't thinking and just replaced POWER with Summon. Shrug.

 

I was going to edit it and just thought..."nah."

[Ramius]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

Have you read the posts being made to this thread?

 

I think I made it clear why I no longer like the books -- too much absurd sex, carbon-copy secondary characters, and an escalating power level that renders the character highly-uninteresting to read about.

 

And I wasn't trying to insult the series, merely state an opinion.

 

As for the posted character sheet -- it's been so long that I can't rightly say it is correct or not, but it looks fairly okay to me.

 

Yes I have read all of the posts in this thread.

You particularly made it obvious that you were stating an an opinion

I apologize. And really need to refrain from posting at 4am

[Rapier]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

And really need to refrain from posting at 4am

 

HAH! I am not the only one!!

 

Welcome to the club! Now go to bed!!

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

'Cause its 3am?

 

Actually the original model was for blood magic spells and I wasn't thinking and just replaced POWER with Summon. Shrug.

 

I was going to edit it and just thought..."nah."

Yeah, something like that.

I've done very similar things before myself.

(both the scaled power construct and the Body Transfer idea).

 

I literally just started reading these books a few months ago, so the raw data is still pretty fresh in my mind.

After trying to extract gaming info from several series in my history as a GM, I've gotten pretty good about kinda taking mental gaming notes on the fly when I read.

[Rapier]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

I literally just started reading these books a few months ago, so the raw data is still pretty fresh in my mind.

After trying to extract gaming info from several series in my history as a GM, I've gotten pretty good about kinda taking mental gaming notes on the fly when I read.

 

Yeah. Its pretty simple to stat out Captain Kirk or Adric (they never did change much as characters). Trying to stat out Anita or SpiderMan is darned difficult. The power levels changed so easily and so quickly that you almost need to grab a particular rendition and reread it and take notes, then compile those specific notes into a character.

 

Then the only thing left is to argue out that on the particular day this character was written she was actually wearing high heels instead of sneakers and that her lipstick was burgundy and not red and all the rest of the claptrap we get caught up in.

 

Its pretty difficult, which is why I don't spend much time developing canned characters. I likes 'em fresh!

[Susano]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

The trick is to read the book and take notes on what the character is seen to do or is said to be able to do. Then decide on a good stopping point (example: My Conan is written to reflect him as of "Beyond the Black River"). With Anita, decide which book will be your stopping point and ignore everything beyond that.

 

Or, create a bool 1 Anita, then list all additions for each book.

[Tom Carman]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

Sorry, when I say the title of this thread, my mind kept reading it as "Anita Bryant Vampire hunter".

 

"A day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine!"

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

considering the sexual tastes the vampires and other critters have in the books, and Anita Bryants well known anti-gay etc public stands on said issues, Anita Bryant Vampire Hunter might not that much of a stretch

 

as to how I built her, I took bits of information from the books I've read, and extrapolated other things

 

for example:

She states in several places she has a black belt in Judo and training in Kenpo

she states in several places she has a degree in preternatural biology

she states she is dive certified, so I gave her TF: Scuba

she talks about taking a year course dealing with psychics

 

heres the books I pulled data from

Guilty Pleasures

Obsidian Butterfly

Burnt Offerings

Blue Moon

 

I am going to read more of the series soon

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

it sounds like LKH has Anita Blake clancied into a corner, where shes going to run out of things anita can do

 

clancied being a termed coined about Tom Clancy writing Jack Ryan into a corner where theres not much else the character can do without going back to earlier history etc

 

David Weber has done the same thing with Honor Harrington

[Susano]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

I heard it argued years ago this had happened with the first triumvirate. LKH had written herself into a corner with no where to go. Looking at wikipedia, I see she's now in a second triumvirate, has gained a new werebeast lover(s?), and otherwise is going in circles plot-wise. Power-wise she's just going up and up....

 

Sounds a little like Dragonball....

[Constantine]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

I heard it argued years ago this had happened with the first triumvirate. LKH had written herself into a corner with no where to go. Looking at wikipedia, I see she's now in a second triumvirate, has gained a new werebeast lover(s?), and otherwise is going in circles plot-wise. Power-wise she's just going up and up....

 

Sounds a little like Dragonball....

 

Its not THAT bad...

 

Anyway, I really loved the first couple of books, but the series has been going downhill ever since Obsidian Butterfly. Now, I don't mind a little sex in my writing, but when sex substitutes for plot, I'm unhappy. I still buy the books, mostly because I just want to see where she is taking the character, but I keep hoping that we'll get back to the mystery stories eventually. I've even written her and her fan club with such a request (not that I expect anything to come of it).

And yes, the Harry Dresden books are very good. I have a hard time not reading the whole thing in one sitting. I just started reading the series and I'm through book 5. Warning, very addictive, but fun!

[Black Omega]

Re: Anita Blake Vampire hunter

 

I heard it argued years ago this had happened with the first triumvirate. LKH had written herself into a corner with no where to go. Looking at wikipedia, I see she's now in a second triumvirate, has gained a new werebeast lover(s?), and otherwise is going in circles plot-wise. Power-wise she's just going up and up....

 

Sounds a little like Dragonball....

I didn't really see the first triumvirate as a corner with no place to go. But she had to stretch the tension out and didn't. It took maybe three books to resolve the triangle and the relationships went from dramatic tension to simply a bad relationship. How long did Takahashi stretch out the Ranma 1/2 relationships? More soap opera disasters ensue, fans start turning on Richard some but LKH doesn't want to get rid of him. So Micah is added out of the blue. LKH seemed to at least realize this was a problem, since she devoted a book to Micah, but that's after the fact. LKH has often said the book writes itself and she sometimes has no control over characters. I think sometimes she'd be better off making sure the character knows who the boss is.