This is something I've been trying to figure out for a while... Most vampires are over 100-200 years old, so I assume at one point they had to be a normal person with a job until they got bitten and the vampire curse got them. But what's your guy's theory as to how vampires are so wealthy and have such big houses?
Obviously any answer to this will be speculation as the creature in question is fictional, but here are some possibilities:
Murdered and fed on wealthy travelers to grow wealth.
Invested large sums long ago, and because of the length of time, investments grew.
Was around when 'antiques' were crated and owns so many that they can have their items auctioned off for huge profits.
Does not have to pay for overpriced food.
Can 'charm' anyone into handing over vast amounts of money.
Additionally, there are plenty of Vampires in printed and movie formats that are not wealthy (the movie Near Dark is a good example).
Cheers!
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Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty. Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers; Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas. Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
It's easy for them to entice the rich and powerful, by seduction, magic or the promise of turning them into their child. Or they use intimidation and the power of fear to get what they want, as far as enslaving whole villages, using them as workers. Last but not least, the have all the time in the world to gather riches.
Personally, i don't like the "Vampires are rich" cliche not very much. Their dangerous and predatory nature can be used in so many other ways that are more fun, especially in rpgs.
I think it's a false equivalence. It's not that all vampires are rich, it's that the rich vampires are the ones who can access shelter during waking hours, servants who don't ask a lot of questions, can keep "eccentric" hours, and regularly kill the townsfolk and get away with it. Poor vampires don't have all that and are more likely to get caught by an angry mob before they can reach that ripe old age.
My vampires certainly aren't wealthy (well, except for those five, but they are exceptions because they were rich before they became vampires).
My vampires are totally evil, though, deeply predatory, and concerned about power, and so a lot of them do seek to find ways to become wealthy themselves.
But also, and this is a big part of it all, the vampires i have are not "made by other vampires". They are self create, and there is magic involved and they are all, without exception, deeply corrupted people with little to know redeeming points.
That said, the reason that Vampires in general are shown to be wealthy is that they are very long lived, and they tend to understand their prey, err, I mean, human nature, and make good investments and steal freely from victims and generally take what they want and then mesmerize folks into giving them stuff.
If you use Dracula as a template, then wealth comes because they were nobility -- taxes, essentially. In modern eras it is always because they are very good at playing the stock market, since even if you don't do day trading, over a 150 years, your small investment will always become near unimaginably huge. So they do a lot of deals with portfolio types and estate managers, lol.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Long term investment, low cost of living. A vampire can live in a box in the ground, never eats (at least not from the grocers), and has a steady income from unfortunates that become lunch and loot. How can they reasonably be anything but rich?
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Let’s start with the “original” vampire Vlad “Dracula” Tepes - Duke of Wallachian. Basically king of his region with a serf population that pretty much amounted to a kingdom full of slaves with most of the wealth in his pockets. If he is making sub vamps ts not from the serfs it’s from the nobility and wealthiest merchants ( maybe except for the occasional lower class beauty) . As others have said given the abilities of vampires it’s hard to believe that after a couple of hundred years they haven’t managed to accumulate considerable wealth. Another thing is their thought process changes - they aren’t investing for short term profit but for long term (decades and centuries) access to the power elites and money is a major path. As to how they get big fancy buildings - if you’ve got their kind of wealth real estate is always a very solid investment that has great returns from both sales and rentals ( and if the vampire is the owner of the property do they actually need your permission to enter?
As to how they get big fancy buildings - if you’ve got their kind of wealth real estate is always a very solid investment that has great returns from both sales and rentals ( and if the vampire is the owner of the property do they actually need your permission to enter?
might depend on the wording of the lease contract and local law (can a dead person really own land/a house?), but probably no. XD
As to how they get big fancy buildings - if you’ve got their kind of wealth real estate is always a very solid investment that has great returns from both sales and rentals ( and if the vampire is the owner of the property do they actually need your permission to enter?
might depend on the wording of the lease contract and local law (can a dead person really own land/a house?), but probably no. XD
There's this novel called Dracula ... real estate machinations through agents and proxies is actually a key component to how Dracula gets over to England.
Regarding your question pretending lease contract and local law somehow makes the "wealthy vampire" m.o. absurd, in addition to recognizing the concept of legal incorporation (and where the word incorporation comes from) I'd recommend you look up the legal concept of Trusts, and really think over what the word "estate" means, and the agency all those terms have in civil or legally codified society. They're like magic To make a pun that should clarify things for you, Vampires literally have powerful wills XD.
Material resources being part of a vampire's power is a common trope in vampire fiction, and the vampire monster as an economic metaphor has been widely deployed for both good and ill. Dragons too.
Personally, i don't like the "Vampires are rich" cliche not very much. Their dangerous and predatory nature can be used in so many other ways that are more fun, especially in rpgs.
There's nothing wrong with not taking advantage of the "well resourced" trope for vampires (or dragons) and playing the monster as some sort of more feral menace. But the vampire as some sort of apex predator is just as cliche as the vampire with great material means. The latter, if anything, increases the plausibility of the vampire's longevity.
I'm not convinced all vampires should be wealthy. We just associate all vampires with Dracula, who was based on a nobleman. That being said, compound interest is a very powerful force for wealth accumulation. Also, vampires have strong powers of suggestion, and can probably get away with quite a bit of white collar theft.
I'm not convinced all vampires should be wealthy. We just associate all vampires with Dracula, who was based on a nobleman. That being said, compound interest is a very powerful force for wealth accumulation. Also, vampires have strong powers of suggestion, and can probably get away with quite a bit of white collar theft.
All the thralls have basically nothing at all. There are two types of vampires after all: Real vampires, and vampire slaves. If you're not the guy on top, you have nothing. But that's another reason vampires are rich: They have unpaid interns. Forever.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Because if you've been alive for several centuries and DON'T have enough money to be at least upper-middle class, especially when you no longer have to worry about things like 'food' and 'healthcare', then you should just walk out into the sun and get it over with.
Do you want an in game reason or an historic reason?
In game, most vampires are not wealthy. You have Strahd, for sure, and there are other important NPCs (Saestra, Kaius, etc). However, the vast majority of vampires live in crypts and graveyards without access to a lot of resources.
Historically, vampires lived in castles because that was a staple of the Gothic horror genre. Stories often took place in creepy castles and churches with Gothic architectural features (hence the name of the genre). Even some of Lovecraft's early published works took place in Gothic ruins.
Ravenloft deliberately incorporates themes from Gothic horror literature to create an environment in keeping with the genre. That is why it takes place in a Gothic style castle. It's a highly heralded and influential adventure, so it's not a surprise that many players incorporate similar themes into their games.
This is something I've been trying to figure out for a while... Most vampires are over 100-200 years old, so I assume at one point they had to be a normal person with a job until they got bitten and the vampire curse got them. But what's your guy's theory as to how vampires are so wealthy and have such big houses?
Greetings SoySauce420,
Obviously any answer to this will be speculation as the creature in question is fictional, but here are some possibilities:
Additionally, there are plenty of Vampires in printed and movie formats that are not wealthy (the movie Near Dark is a good example).
Cheers!
Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty.
Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers;
Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas.
Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
It's easy for them to entice the rich and powerful, by seduction, magic or the promise of turning them into their child. Or they use intimidation and the power of fear to get what they want, as far as enslaving whole villages, using them as workers. Last but not least, the have all the time in the world to gather riches.
Personally, i don't like the "Vampires are rich" cliche not very much. Their dangerous and predatory nature can be used in so many other ways that are more fun, especially in rpgs.
I think it's a false equivalence. It's not that all vampires are rich, it's that the rich vampires are the ones who can access shelter during waking hours, servants who don't ask a lot of questions, can keep "eccentric" hours, and regularly kill the townsfolk and get away with it. Poor vampires don't have all that and are more likely to get caught by an angry mob before they can reach that ripe old age.
My vampires certainly aren't wealthy (well, except for those five, but they are exceptions because they were rich before they became vampires).
My vampires are totally evil, though, deeply predatory, and concerned about power, and so a lot of them do seek to find ways to become wealthy themselves.
But also, and this is a big part of it all, the vampires i have are not "made by other vampires". They are self create, and there is magic involved and they are all, without exception, deeply corrupted people with little to know redeeming points.
That said, the reason that Vampires in general are shown to be wealthy is that they are very long lived, and they tend to understand their prey, err, I mean, human nature, and make good investments and steal freely from victims and generally take what they want and then mesmerize folks into giving them stuff.
If you use Dracula as a template, then wealth comes because they were nobility -- taxes, essentially. In modern eras it is always because they are very good at playing the stock market, since even if you don't do day trading, over a 150 years, your small investment will always become near unimaginably huge. So they do a lot of deals with portfolio types and estate managers, lol.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Long term investment, low cost of living. A vampire can live in a box in the ground, never eats (at least not from the grocers), and has a steady income from unfortunates that become lunch and loot. How can they reasonably be anything but rich?
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Let’s start with the “original” vampire Vlad “Dracula” Tepes - Duke of Wallachian. Basically king of his region with a serf population that pretty much amounted to a kingdom full of slaves with most of the wealth in his pockets. If he is making sub vamps ts not from the serfs it’s from the nobility and wealthiest merchants ( maybe except for the occasional lower class beauty) . As others have said given the abilities of vampires it’s hard to believe that after a couple of hundred years they haven’t managed to accumulate considerable wealth. Another thing is their thought process changes - they aren’t investing for short term profit but for long term (decades and centuries) access to the power elites and money is a major path. As to how they get big fancy buildings - if you’ve got their kind of wealth real estate is always a very solid investment that has great returns from both sales and rentals ( and if the vampire is the owner of the property do they actually need your permission to enter?
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
might depend on the wording of the lease contract and local law (can a dead person really own land/a house?), but probably no. XD
They incorporated themselves - corporations are considered live legal people in most areas.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
There's this novel called Dracula ... real estate machinations through agents and proxies is actually a key component to how Dracula gets over to England.
Regarding your question pretending lease contract and local law somehow makes the "wealthy vampire" m.o. absurd, in addition to recognizing the concept of legal incorporation (and where the word incorporation comes from) I'd recommend you look up the legal concept of Trusts, and really think over what the word "estate" means, and the agency all those terms have in civil or legally codified society. They're like magic To make a pun that should clarify things for you, Vampires literally have powerful wills XD.
Material resources being part of a vampire's power is a common trope in vampire fiction, and the vampire monster as an economic metaphor has been widely deployed for both good and ill. Dragons too.
There's nothing wrong with not taking advantage of the "well resourced" trope for vampires (or dragons) and playing the monster as some sort of more feral menace. But the vampire as some sort of apex predator is just as cliche as the vampire with great material means. The latter, if anything, increases the plausibility of the vampire's longevity.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I suspect that there's an association being made with the parasitic nature of the aristocracy.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I'm not convinced all vampires should be wealthy. We just associate all vampires with Dracula, who was based on a nobleman. That being said, compound interest is a very powerful force for wealth accumulation. Also, vampires have strong powers of suggestion, and can probably get away with quite a bit of white collar theft.
I don't think most vampires are rich. Just the Vampire Lords who would be much older.
But it is easy to get good deals when you can charm someone whenever you want to.
All the thralls have basically nothing at all. There are two types of vampires after all: Real vampires, and vampire slaves. If you're not the guy on top, you have nothing. But that's another reason vampires are rich: They have unpaid interns. Forever.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Because if you've been alive for several centuries and DON'T have enough money to be at least upper-middle class, especially when you no longer have to worry about things like 'food' and 'healthcare', then you should just walk out into the sun and get it over with.
Do you want an in game reason or an historic reason?
In game, most vampires are not wealthy. You have Strahd, for sure, and there are other important NPCs (Saestra, Kaius, etc). However, the vast majority of vampires live in crypts and graveyards without access to a lot of resources.
Historically, vampires lived in castles because that was a staple of the Gothic horror genre. Stories often took place in creepy castles and churches with Gothic architectural features (hence the name of the genre). Even some of Lovecraft's early published works took place in Gothic ruins.
Ravenloft deliberately incorporates themes from Gothic horror literature to create an environment in keeping with the genre. That is why it takes place in a Gothic style castle. It's a highly heralded and influential adventure, so it's not a surprise that many players incorporate similar themes into their games.