I wish we had more diverse vampire art

[Eldagusto]

I feel the art in Vampire forget that not all Nosferatu are Count Orlok, and that Gangrel can look downright amazing/horrifying, or that Assamites can have jet black skin or that Baali can be demonic in appearance. Not to mention the Gargoyles. I mean they often do a decent enough job with the Samedi and Cappy's, and sometimes with the Kiasyd.

But I want more picks of Gangrel with Walrus fangs, hyena manes, and gazelle hooves, and Nosferatu like Cockrobbin with the nose and chin touching, or that are giant blobs of wrinkles and blubber, or extra long over jointed fingers. You have a lot to play with when you can have probiscus having freaks but instead lowball it. I mean seriously you can expect several Gangrel to develop a helluva a lot of Animal features over the years, do you really think most gangrel Frenzy less then once a century come on! I mean Karsh barely even looks Gangrel when depicted.

Also I wish they portrayed Animal forms as somewhat suffering from the Curse. Like I get why you don't want wolf form to suffer from all the animal traits because then it would just be a chimera. But in my headcanon when a Nosferatu turns into a Wolf it would be some ugly canid, maybe scabby or patchworked or something. And when a Samedi or Cappy turns into a wolf it would look like Roadkill or a taxidermy specimen.

[Thoth]

I would love to see art that shows vampires feeding without looking like toddlers who don't know how to eat without dribbling all over the place. I mean a vampire has fangs to make a pair of holes which can then be sealed by licking the wound. That is like a human drinking from two straws in the same glass and some how getting it all over their chin, clothes, the surrounding furniture, etc. Don't get me wrong, in the middle of combat or frenzy obviously things are going to get messy, but how did the default vampire feeding art work get set to pet dog slobbering at the food bowl?

It also wouldn't hurt if some of the art was a bit more technical than exclusively thematic. By this I am referring to the fact that in most fantasy or sci-fi RPGs a good deal of the art is dedicated to showing the reader things that don't exist in our world, such as what exactly does a dragon look like or what does a Batleth look like. In the White Wolf games, by being set in our world, anyone can just google 90% of the items, places or concepts and get all sorts of art or real life pictures. In some ways this a real strength for the game by making it much easier to learn for newer players. But I feel that this meant that the art teams have really kind of slacked off on showing content that is exclusive to the given game line.

For instance we have tons of character pics for Tremere vampires, but none that show what their warding circles or runes look like, especially in the modern setting. Lots of art shows vampires in high end mansions or BDSM dungeons, but I can't think of any art that shows vampire specific technology or furniture, like has no one considered designing a hi-tech coffin?

[Blitzburger]

Personally, I'd rather they do away with the physical animal features flaw of the Gangrel altogether. Beastial, animalistic behavior is cool, but other than animal eyes and being hairy, the rest is rather silly. Do we really want Walrus-faced vampires?

[Saur Ops Specialist]

Personally, I'd rather they do away with the physical animal features flaw of the Gangrel altogether. Beastial, animalistic behavior is cool, but other than animal eyes and being hairy, the rest is rather silly. Do we really want Walrus-faced vampires?

Well, take a vampire that can't retract their fangs and add on some bushy whiskers, and you're already a good portion of the way there, so I'm not seeing how it's going to be the disaster you're imagining. Especially since the tusks are likely to end up in people and helping to loose their blood supply for that hypothetical lick.

[CajunKhan]

Personally, I'd rather they do away with the physical animal features flaw of the Gangrel altogether. Beastial, animalistic behavior is cool, but other than animal eyes and being hairy, the rest is rather silly. Do we really want Walrus-faced vampires?

Yeah, I'd instead make them have sort of an animal version of the old Capadocian weakness. They get hints of the wolfman or Mister Hyde to their features, just enough to increase the difficulty of social roles a little. And it's not progressive. The little hints of wolfman or mister hyde that form after your embrace are the begining and end of it.

[Nyrufa]

Personally, I'd rather they do away with the physical animal features flaw of the Gangrel altogether. Beastial, animalistic behavior is cool, but other than animal eyes and being hairy, the rest is rather silly. Do we really want Walrus-faced vampires?

Have you heard of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac?

But in all seriousness, I actually like the concept of them gaining animal features over time. Gangrel are supposed to be the most in tune with their inner Beast, and its savagery. Having them gradually devolve into literal animals sounds like a perfect mechanic for them.

If you want to portray the monster in less animalistic terms, that's what the Nosferatu are for.

[Illithid]

But in all seriousness, I actually like the concept of them gaining animal features over time. Gangrel are supposed to be the most in tune with their inner Beast, and its savagery. Having them gradually devolve into literal animals sounds like a perfect mechanic for them.

If you want to portray the monster in less animalistic terms, that's what the Nosferatu are for.

Unfortunately, it's disasterous for elder Gangrel; every 5 frenzies and they lose a dot from social, they will end up being straight 0s in ALL socials.

[Dogstar]

Have any of you considered putting your money where your mouth is and paying an artist to make the stuff you want? Can be quite reasonable rates if you look for someone on deviant art.

[Eldagusto]

Have any of you considered putting your money where your mouth is and paying an artist to make the stuff you want? Can be quite reasonable rates if you look for someone on deviant art.

Ummm no not at all, I wouldn't at all want to do that. I would be interested if the books did it though. Just pointing out differences in the books writing and the actual art.

[Nyrufa]

Unfortunately, it's disasterous for elder Gangrel; every 5 frenzies and they lose a dot from social, they will end up being straight 0s in ALL socials.

You mean the clan of loners and nomads who don't really care about socialization has a weakness that make them bad at socialization?

[Coridan]

I would love to see art that shows vampires feeding without looking like toddlers who don't know how to eat without dribbling all over the place. I mean a vampire has fangs to make a pair of holes which can then be sealed by licking the wound. That is like a human drinking from two straws in the same glass and some how getting it all over their chin, clothes, the surrounding furniture, etc. Don't get me wrong, in the middle of combat or frenzy obviously things are going to get messy, but how did the default vampire feeding art work get set to pet dog slobbering at the food bowl?

I mean, it's more like drinking from two straws from a juice box while someone rhythmically squeezes the box.

[Malkavian87]

Yes, there's a lot of pressure on that blood.

But I want more picks of Gangrel with Walrus fangs, hyena manes, and gazelle hooves,

In canon the Gangrel animal features mostly stick to indigenous predators though. I don't think there's a Gangrel habitat with both hyenas and walrus.

[Eldagusto]

Or the Gangrel was travelling around the world when picking up the features.

[Beckett]

Personally, I'd rather they do away with the physical animal features flaw of the Gangrel altogether. Beastial, animalistic behavior is cool, but other than animal eyes and being hairy, the rest is rather silly. Do we really want Walrus-faced vampires?

I agree. On the surface, very superficially, it sounds cool and fun, but in reality it both very antithetical and just doesnt make sense. What does "the Beast" have to with animals?

The Brujah Clan Weakness works well, and truth be told should have been the Gangrel Clan Weakness.

An alternative Ive tossed around is something like Gangrel have difficulty resistening the Beast, but can always attempt to Ride the Wave, regardless of if they posses Instinct or Self-Control.

[Malkavian87]

Or the Gangrel was travelling around the world when picking up the features.

I'd assume their original region would count, in line with the Tzimisce weakness. An Eastern European Gangrel would have features of Eastern European predators, even if he had been residing in South America for the last century.