Vestnik Posted January 31, 2007 Report Share Posted January 31, 2007 I just finished reading Brian Lumley's 1980s Necroscope series of vampire/ESP novels (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necroscope). Now, while these books are rather mixed in terms of quality (the characterization is stiff, all books except the last seem to end in approximately the same way, the Cold War stuff is totally dated) I thought they had a great deal of interesting ideas (great vampires!) that could be used variously in a horror/modern occult/fantasy game. Anybody out there read these books and ever thought about adapting anything from them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted January 31, 2007 Report Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: Necroscope Hero I read them but I have never used them for a game. Lumley kind of lost me when the E-Branch lost in the last book and the whole world was infected with vampirism. He wrote another book set before that happened, but I didn't pick it up. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 Re: Necroscope Hero It has already been adapted to the Masterbook system - so check second hand/sale bins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vestnik Posted February 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 Re: Necroscope Hero I read them but I have never used them for a game. Lumley kind of lost me when the E-Branch lost in the last book and the whole world was infected with vampirism. He wrote another book set before that happened, but I didn't pick it up. CES I couldn't get past how he has to have every sentence end in an exclamation point! I thought his reworking of the vampire theme was very creative ans spooky, clearly Lovecraft-influenced. I could have done without the out-of-place references to Yog-Sothoth and the silly "if I know enough math, I can will myself to move through dimensions, space and time" idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidV Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 Re: Necroscope Hero Loved the first five books (up to Deadspawn) but felt he had pretty much wrapped it up in book 5, so never bothered with the subsequent sequels. Lumley has a really bad habit of flogging dead horses and I felt he was already getting into that mode after The Source (book 3) so had no inclination to continue beyond the original series. By "flogging dead horses", I mean that he comes up with good ideas and interesting settings then uses them until it hurts (hurts the reader's brain, that is). His Lovecraft-inspired pulp adventures (the Titus Crowe/De Marigny series and various offshoots) suffered from the same thing. Interesting ideas and universe to start, but stretched to and beyond its limits by the end. Never actually RP'ed in the Necroscope universe, but have felt that most of Lumley's universes, from the Crowe "war against the Old Ones", to the pulp heroic fantasy of the Borea and Dreamlands novels, to Necroscope would all work well as RPG settings. They are fairly straightforward, lots of opportunities for adventure, and at least 1 or 2 cool ideas in each setting for the GM to have a ball with. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vestnik Posted February 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 Re: Necroscope Hero Loved the first five books (up to Deadspawn) but felt he had pretty much wrapped it up in book 5, so never bothered with the subsequent sequels. Lumley has a really bad habit of flogging dead horses and I felt he was already getting into that mode after The Source (book 3) so had no inclination to continue beyond the original series. By "flogging dead horses", I mean that he comes up with good ideas and interesting settings then uses them until it hurts (hurts the reader's brain, that is). His Lovecraft-inspired pulp adventures (the Titus Crowe/De Marigny series and various offshoots) suffered from the same thing. Interesting ideas and universe to start, but stretched to and beyond its limits by the end. Never actually RP'ed in the Necroscope universe, but have felt that most of Lumley's universes, from the Crowe "war against the Old Ones", to the pulp heroic fantasy of the Borea and Dreamlands novels, to Necroscope would all work well as RPG settings. They are fairly straightforward, lots of opportunities for adventure, and at least 1 or 2 cool ideas in each setting for the GM to have a ball with. David You know, I was under the impression that he had stopped with Deadspawn -- I came across this series completely by happenstance in a bookstore and had never heard of Lumley. I had no idea that he had gone further. I think the Starside vampire world would be a really interesting sort of setting for a fantasy/horror game. Casualties might be high though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidV Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 Re: Necroscope Hero You know, I was under the impression that he had stopped with Deadspawn -- I came across this series completely by happenstance in a bookstore and had never heard of Lumley. I had no idea that he had gone further. I think the Starside vampire world would be a really interesting sort of setting for a fantasy/horror game. Casualties might be high though. He continued with (as I already said, I haven't read them, but I'm an ex-librarian so got to watch them roll in through our cataloguing department): Vampire World series (trilogy) - adventures of Harry's twin sons on the Vampire World (kind of what you're suggesting for an RPG) The Lost Years series (2 books) - Not sure, but I think this fills in Harry's adventures while searching for his wife and son between Wamphyri and The Source. E-Branch (trilogy) - New vampires and a new generation of E-branch agents. I think Harry may show up as a "ghost" in this one. Plus some short stories/novellas in various collections, and possibly some other novels. Here's the Necroscope page on Lumley's website: http://www.brianlumley.com/books/necroscope/ On the RPG side, I agree that a Starside campaign would be fun. Actually, a high level fantasy campaign with the PCs as a faction of Wamphyri lords battling for supremacy over various rivals might be a blast. I've also contemplated using the Wamphyri in a modern horror campaign, esp. if my players weren't familiar with the novels. Nice twist on vampires that might just be the ticket to put Buffy wannabes in their place. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 Re: Necroscope Hero The E-Branch triliogy was the last one I read. Three vampires make it to Earth and start growing a garden of spores. The psychics start combatting it with a new Necroscope. The spores are released infecting England, and eventually the world. At that point, what's the point of reading any more books in the same setting. It's destroyed. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vestnik Posted February 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 Re: Necroscope Hero On the RPG side, I agree that a Starside campaign would be fun. Actually, a high level fantasy campaign with the PCs as a faction of Wamphyri lords battling for supremacy over various rivals might be a blast. I've also contemplated using the Wamphyri in a modern horror campaign, esp. if my players weren't familiar with the novels. Nice twist on vampires that might just be the ticket to put Buffy wannabes in their place. David I don't live in an anglophone country, so I have to depend on what I find in my English-language bookstore (I don't have a credit card, so I can't order stuff). Unless he has been translated... hmmm... have to find out! I need to read the later novels for better or worse. I agree that a high fantasy Wamphyri campaign could be great fun. The typical definition of "heroic" would have to be forgotten though, given the W's nature (the origin of their warriors, flyers etc. being human beings after all). I really liked the ending of Deadspawn. All the previous ones seemed to be like Harry flies in through the Mobius Continuum, raises the dead, they kill everyone, go Britain! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidV Posted February 2, 2007 Report Share Posted February 2, 2007 Re: Necroscope Hero I agree that a high fantasy Wamphyri campaign could be great fun. The typical definition of "heroic" would have to be forgotten though' date=' given the W's nature (the origin of their warriors, flyers etc. being human beings after all).[/quote'] It would almost be a superheroic campaign in some ways, given how powerful the characters would be and the dark, rather grotesque nature, of the Wamphyri would lend itself more to a WoD type of atmosphere than a traditional fantasy. Kind of an Iron Age superheroic campaign in a fantasy world. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vestnik Posted February 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2007 Re: Necroscope Hero I'm going to write up a standard Wampyr lord based on the Greater Vampire in the Bestiary and post it. Please tell me what you think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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