Vampire: The Requiem and Hellsing

[Darker]

Just what is the best way to fit Hellsing into vampire: The Requiem? I'm not too sure what Clan either Alucard and Seras belong to. This applies to the versions of the characters as well as their ova/manga counterparts.

The characters Incognito, Luke and Jan Valentine, Helena and Bubbancy are the ones I take the most interest in in this regard.

[Shining Dragon]

Hellsing?

[Darker]

Hellsing?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellsing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellsing_(TV_series)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellsing_Ultimate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellsing_%28manga%29

[The Little Raven]

He wasn't confused about what Hellsing is, he was confused because you said "Helling" with no S in every single instance in which you said it.

[Shining Dragon]

He wasn't confused about what Hellsing is, he was confused because you said "Helling" with no S in every single instance in which you said it.

100 points for the Win. For all I know there could be a "Helling" character in some unknown book or film.

[Stephenls]

Fixed your typos.

[chiguayante]

I'm sorry, but any movie, TV series, comic or game that has "Alucard" as a name for a character in it, especially if they anything at all to do with vampires or Dracula is a dealbreaker*. Seriously, who came up with the oh so inventive, true to Romanian roots name "Alucard" which is just Dracula spelled backwards?




*yes, this includes Castlevannia

[Stephenls]

I'm sorry, but any movie, TV series, comic or game that has "Alucard" as a name for a character in it, especially if they anything at all to do with vampires or Dracula is a dealbreaker*. Seriously, who came up with the oh so inventive, true to Romanian roots name "Alucard" which is just Dracula spelled backwards?




*yes, this includes Castlevannia

In the novel, Dracula, the Count himself used "Alucard" as a pseudonym. IIRC, it was when he was buying up property.

That's where everybody takes it from. The implication in Hellsing is supposed to be that Alucard is, in fact, Dracula, still using that pseudonym.

[Sex Bobomb]

In the novel, Dracula, the Count himself used "Alucard" as a pseudonym. IIRC, it was when he was buying up property.

I always thought of it as Dracula totally thinking English Victorians were dumb.

That said, I don't think Vampire: the Requiem and my (admittedly incredibly limited/biased) experience with Hellsing go together. At all.

[Stephenls]

I always thought of it as Dracula totally thinking English Victorians were dumb.

In the case of Hellsing, it's probably Dracula totally wanting the English to know that he thinks they're dumb.

[Darker]

Fixed your typos.

Thank you.

[Stephenls]

Now I feel slightly foolish. It's been a long time since I tried to read the original novel. Wikipedia informs me that it was actually the pseudonym for Dracula's son in 1943's Son of Dracula, and did not appear earlier than that.

[Sex Bobomb]

Now I feel slightly foolish. It's been a long time since I tried to read the original novel. Wikipedia informs me that it was actually the pseudonym for Dracula's son in 1943's Son of Dracula, and did not appear earlier than that.

Too bad.

The idea of continental bloodsucking demon saying "to hell with you, England!" and giving a really dumb pseudonym is pretty funny.

[Poisson Resistance]

This is a case of square pegs and round holes. Requiem comes from an Anne Rice-style setup while Hellsing is very much just a flashy, over the top and fun, angst-free trip in reveling in how the characters do all sorts of crazy shit.

I'd suggest Exalted instead, and not the obvious answer of what type, either - a Lunar almost-chimera with about 6-7 points of permanent limit should probably fit the bill for Alucard, as there are canonically powers that allow you to consume others and then reform them from your body, in addition to being annoyingly unkillable.

For the lesser Freaks, you could approximate their programmed capabilities by just giving them Charms, since they can't change into mist (elementals) or bats (small animal shifting), and thus would not have Knacks. I must plead ignorance with large numbers of the TV series details.

If necessary, some kind of sunlight allergy can be introduced, but it might be no more than a slight effective Essence decrease (and if it goes to 0 the die, but otherwise, for a powerful one, it just irritates).

I'm sorry, but any movie, TV series, comic or game that has "Alucard" as a name for a character in it, especially if they anything at all to do with vampires or Dracula is a dealbreaker*. Seriously, who came up with the oh so inventive, true to Romanian roots name "Alucard" which is just Dracula spelled backwards?




*yes, this includes Castlevannia

Well, okay. Have fun.

[Stephenls]

For Hellsing I would actually suggest something like Risus or Wushu, or any game where you get to define your own traits and then describe using them however you want. That's the only way you're going to get a balanced party when one of its members has the ability to pull opponents into an alternate dimension where he is omnipotent.

[Squid]

For Hellsing I would actually suggest something like Risus or Wushu, or any game where you get to define your own traits and then describe using them however you want. That's the only way you're going to get a balanced party when one of its members has the ability to pull opponents into an alternate dimension where he is omnipotent.
I'm looking at the original post, and 3 of the characters he mentions wouldn't be that hard to do at all.

Luke's whole schtick is based around speed; sadly for him (and happily for the game line) Celerity isn't what it once was, but it's very much the 'speed!' discipline. For his flashier tricks, some devotions should be possible.

...Jan has very low humanity, and other than that, seems almost like a transported member of Belial's Brood.

That being said, the whole operation they're a part of might make an interesting take on VII.

Bubbancy can be moddled pretty well with your head-whammy discipline of choice, or perhaps several of them (as she -did- manage to nail someone who many would peg as having a high willpower.)

Though much of Hellsing is very over the top, other parts aren't that hard to replicate. The regular members of the Hellsing organization itself use methods that would be sensible in Requiem for an organization that worked on stomping out vampires that crossed over the line; military tactics, fairly heavy weapons, and trying to strike when their targets are isolated. They -don't- go after vampires in their sanctums nor (as is implied in the show) vampires who exist fairly quietly, avoiding causing a larger brouhaha by getting an entire city's population of vampires worked up against them.

[chiguayante]

Might I suggest BESM 2e Revised? Didn't they have a Hellsing UFG with stats and everything?

[Jonah]

I think Requiem would work well enough for the low level baddies. Really, the Valentine brothers are pretty much ghouls, or gangrels if you feel charitable. The problem is Alucard, obviously. In oWod, he'd been one of the 2 - 4th gen vamp and his powers handwaved away, but in nwod, elders are little more problemmatic, though I suppose he could still be handwaved away as the chap with unrivalled mastery over the Coils.

[Squid]

Might I suggest BESM 2e Revised? Didn't they have a Hellsing UFG with stats and everything?
The BESM supplement isn't particularly great. It's one of the later ones, and generally more of a fan guide than gaming supplement.

[The Little Raven]

I always thought of it as Dracula totally thinking English Victorians were dumb.

Well, considering neither Dracula nor Alucard would be names familiar to the West, I think it works just fine. We can look at Alucard as a stupid name because we have the advantage of a century of knowledge of Dracula, while the characters involved in the story did not.

[chiguayante]

Now I feel slightly foolish. It's been a long time since I tried to read the original novel. Wikipedia informs me that it was actually the pseudonym for Dracula's son in 1943's Son of Dracula, and did not appear earlier than that.

And here I always thought it was a Castlevannia thing. I knew it didn't appear in the original though.

[The Little Raven]

Dracula did use the name Alucard in the Monster Squad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_squad).

God, I love that movie.

[chiguayante]

Dracula did use the name Alucard in the Monster Squad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_squad).

God, I love that movie.

Did he? I don't remember that. Damn, I might have to make an exception then.

[Coyote's Own]

I don't know about V:tR but everthing about Alucard screamed Tzimisce from V:tM. The attitude, the weird shapeshiftting power, being Vlad Tepes.

I'd in V:tR he'd probably be some sort of bloodline (judging form the weird powers) being and Ordo Venture at the start.

[Halloween Jack]

Just what is the best way to fit Hellsing into vampire: The Requiem?

Simple honest answer? By not doing it at all.

The nWoD was redesigned to avoid precisely the kind of complete over-the-top wackiness that Hellsing becomes as the manga volumes progress. The powers exhibited by Seras and Alucard are largely beyond the scope of the nWoD rules to handle well. nWoD was designed to be way, way, way more subtle than Hellsing is even at its most low-powered and low-key (i.e. in the first few episodes of the first TV series adaption.) To say nothing of the later volumes, where Alucard has dozens of different super-powers, Seras has a magic shadow-arm, and they fight enemies with gimmicks like a musket that blows through tanks and becoming a whirling maelstrom of magic razor-sharp playing cards.

To do Hellsing in the nWoD, not only would you have to do things like eliminate the sunlight allergy, change how feeding works, make up a bunch of new Disciplines, etc., you'd have to completely throw out fundamental assumptions nWoD makes not only about vampires but about all characters. Morality barely applies to the characters in the series; Seras has some struggles with her nature, but overcomes them, while Alucard is both almost completely amoral and almost completely unshakable.

Clan doesn't apply to Alucard; he is simultaneously seductive and urbane, bestial and predatory, mysterious and secretive, bearing an unsettling aura which belies the monstrous nature lurking under his veneer of cordiality, and a prideful aristocrat at heart. Not to mention the fact that he exhibits nearly every Discipline power in the book, plus many more.

The later oWoD, with its Cenobite vampire sorcerers, cyborg ninja wizards, werewolf ecoterrorists, and Samuel fucking Haight, might be a better environment for a character like Alucard. Even then, he'd be ridiculously powerful, enough even to dwarf Haight and probably multiple Antediluvians and powerful mages.

I would recommend running Hellsing under a system that allows you to build the characters and their multifarious powers from the ground up, like HERO or some version of Tri-Stat. (I'd use Silver Age Sentinels.)

[Darker]

In other words, I should of thought of using Owod for this, right?

[Halloween Jack]

No, I recommend using a points-based, effect-based system that allows you to build characters with unique powers from the ground up, like HERO, Tri-Stat, GURPS, etcetera.

[Stephenls]

No, I recommend using a points-based, effect-based system that allows you to build characters with unique powers from the ground up, like HERO, Tri-Stat, GURPS, etcetera.

Ditto.

The WoD isn't appropriate for every sort of game that involves vampires.

[The Little Raven]

Did he? I don't remember that. Damn, I might have to make an exception then.

Yeah, the main character's mom tells him that "Mr. Alucard" called asking about the amulet that he picked up, and there's a scene where the kid is looking at the name, then writes it out backwards and figures out who actually called.

[Needles]

Simple honest answer? By not doing it at all.

The nWoD was redesigned to avoid precisely the kind of complete over-the-top wackiness that Hellsing becomes as the manga volumes progress. The powers exhibited by Seras and Alucard are largely beyond the scope of the nWoD rules to handle well. nWoD was designed to be way, way, way more subtle than Hellsing is even at its most low-powered and low-key (i.e. in the first few episodes of the first TV series adaption.) To say nothing of the later volumes, where Alucard has dozens of different super-powers, Seras has a magic shadow-arm, and they fight enemies with gimmicks like a musket that blows through tanks and becoming a whirling maelstrom of magic razor-sharp playing cards.

To do Hellsing in the nWoD, not only would you have to do things like eliminate the sunlight allergy, change how feeding works, make up a bunch of new Disciplines, etc., you'd have to completely throw out fundamental assumptions nWoD makes not only about vampires but about all characters. Morality barely applies to the characters in the series; Seras has some struggles with her nature, but overcomes them, while Alucard is both almost completely amoral and almost completely unshakable.

Clan doesn't apply to Alucard; he is simultaneously seductive and urbane, bestial and predatory, mysterious and secretive, bearing an unsettling aura which belies the monstrous nature lurking under his veneer of cordiality, and a prideful aristocrat at heart. Not to mention the fact that he exhibits nearly every Discipline power in the book, plus many more.

The later oWoD, with its Cenobite vampire sorcerers, cyborg ninja wizards, werewolf ecoterrorists, and Samuel fucking Haight, might be a better environment for a character like Alucard. Even then, he'd be ridiculously powerful, enough even to dwarf Haight and probably multiple Antediluvians and powerful mages.

I would recommend running Hellsing under a system that allows you to build the characters and their multifarious powers from the ground up, like HERO or some version of Tri-Stat. (I'd use Silver Age Sentinels.)
May I quietly recommend you disregard the above & apply this golden rule. This is your game & since your the both writer & game master as well as the person spending the money for the product to create this world then do so. Everyone loves to have their take upon whats right or wrong but in the end its up to you. System has nothing to do with the enjoyment factor of the players & since your trying to make this happen then do so.
I would start not with the anime which ever fan of horror has seen.But the manga. These volumes contain alot of the background which you'll actually need to pull this off. Further I would look into not the World of Darkness but something like Beyond The Supernatural or Nightbane. These games were designed with just the sort of over the top powers your looking for. Be forewarned though the book keeping is a nightmare. Character creation can verge into the hours instead of the quick off of the cuff business so many of us OWOD fans are used to. As for the rest of it, I'd start slowly in the storyline & then build with the pace the manga uses so well. Sorry Jack but I think that the Hero system while wonderful for superheroes can be very difficult to streamline into the types of battles that Hellsing is so famous for.
Have you also considered Exalted Second Edition? The types of undead are far more easy to convert & customize then World of Darkness. The game keeps the flavor of anime without the headaches of number crunching & besides the system is designed to do just that. Have fun & don't listen to anyone but your players. If your having fun & they're having fun then your role playing. Cheers...

[Halloween Jack]

May I quietly recommend you disregard the above & apply this golden rule. This is your game & since your the both writer & game master as well as the person spending the money for the product to create this world then do so. Everyone loves to have their take upon whats right or wrong but in the end its up to you. System has nothing to do with the enjoyment factor of the players & since your trying to make this happen then do so.
I would start not with the anime which ever fan of horror has seen.But the manga. These volumes contain alot of the background which you'll actually need to pull this off. Further I would look into not the World of Darkness but something like Beyond The Supernatural or Nightbane. These games were designed with just the sort of over the top powers your looking for. Be forewarned though the book keeping is a nightmare. Character creation can verge into the hours instead of the quick off of the cuff business so many of us OWOD fans are used to. As for the rest of it, I'd start slowly in the storyline & then build with the pace the manga uses so well. Sorry Jack but I think that the Hero system while wonderful for superheroes can be very difficult to streamline into the types of battles that Hellsing is so famous for.
Have you also considered Exalted Second Edition? The types of undead are far more easy to convert & customize then World of Darkness. The game keeps the flavor of anime without the headaches of number crunching & besides the system is designed to do just that. Have fun & don't listen to anyone but your players. If your having fun & they're having fun then your role playing. Cheers...
The only thing we seem to disagree on is which other system he should be using instead of nWoD or oWoD Storyteller.