Rötschreck -- A modern disease?

[pooka]

One of the strangest and most unrealistic and superfluous rules in
Vampire:The Masquerade is Rötschreck.

Of course, fire is one of the few things that can really destroy a
Vampire. However, fear of fire even in its smallest form (cigarette
lighter or match) is ridiculous.
It would be more realistic to apply this rule only to large fires
(house burning, etc) or for opponents wielding fiery weapons (lit
torches, flamethrowers) which I tend to do.

The question is, how could Vampires living before this century have
coped? From ancient times light was provided by fire, campfires,
fireplaces, torches on walls, later petrol lamps and gas lanterns, so
a Vampire would be surrounded by fire all the time and thus be
affected by Rötschreck. It's a miracle Kindred society has survived
into the modern age.

The only explanation I can think of is that Rötschreck is a modern
disease for Vampires, like some allergies for humans.

Andy Beck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vampire #1: "I have to conduct some scientific research"
-- Vampire #2: "What? Now? In the middle of the night?"
dialog in a story a few months back

[Jo Hart]

pooka <po...@globalnet.co.uk> wrote in article
<33bbf92c...@news.globalnet.co.uk>...

>
> One of the strangest and most unrealistic and superfluous rules in
> Vampire:The Masquerade is Rötschreck.
>

> The question is, how could Vampires living before this century have
> coped? From ancient times light was provided by fire, campfires,
> fireplaces, torches on walls, later petrol lamps and gas lanterns, so
> a Vampire would be surrounded by fire all the time and thus be
> affected by Rötschreck. It's a miracle Kindred society has survived
> into the modern age.
>
> The only explanation I can think of is that Rötschreck is a modern
> disease for Vampires, like some allergies for humans.

I think thats quite plausible actually. When you think about it, how often
do you really come into contact with a decent sized fire these days?

*grin* If you look at the Rotchreck table in the Dark Ages book, you'll see
that appropriate adjustments have been made. It gives diff 6 for close
proximity to a torch but nothing below that so I thinkn we can assume that
simply seeing or being close to a smaller flame is not something a Dark
Ages vampire would have really worried about (although they might not have
actively sought out fire either).

jo
We LIKE fire

[Kim Robert Blix]

po...@globalnet.co.uk (pooka) once said:

>One of the strangest and most unrealistic and superfluous rules in
>Vampire:The Masquerade is Rötschreck.

I agree. I cant understand _why_ something like that was included?

>Andy Beck

--
Kim Robert Blix ( kb...@sn.no & http://home.sn.no/~kblix )

"How do you shoot the devil in the back?"
"What if you miss?" -Verbal Kint
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

[MDB]

pooka wrote:
>
> One of the strangest and most unrealistic and superfluous rules in
> Vampire:The Masquerade is Rötschreck.
>

> Of course, fire is one of the few things that can really destroy a
> Vampire. However, fear of fire even in its smallest form (cigarette
> lighter or match) is ridiculous.
> It would be more realistic to apply this rule only to large fires
> (house burning, etc) or for opponents wielding fiery weapons (lit
> torches, flamethrowers) which I tend to do.
>

> The question is, how could Vampires living before this century have
> coped? From ancient times light was provided by fire, campfires,
> fireplaces, torches on walls, later petrol lamps and gas lanterns, so
> a Vampire would be surrounded by fire all the time and thus be
> affected by Rötschreck. It's a miracle Kindred society has survived
> into the modern age.
>
> The only explanation I can think of is that Rötschreck is a modern
> disease for Vampires, like some allergies for humans.
>

> Andy Beck

I remember joking one time that if Rotschreck was real bad back in the
Dark Ages, vampires would see torches in the street, panic and run
indoors, see candles, panic and run out into the street, see the
torches, panic, run inside... :)

"If you see a person running screaming in and out of their house all
night, know that you face one of the dark undead, my son!" :)

(One unrelated but interesting thought; if a group like the Inquisition
wanted someone to prove they weren't undead, wouldn't telling them to
pee clear it up since even Baby Face vampires don't take a leak anymore?
Could liven up those secret meetings when you have someone waiting at
the door with that little plastic cup... :) (God help the poor person
with a bladder injury who has blood in their urine...)).

--
Mike Bruner
mbr...@knox.edu (remove .nospam from email)
"The slow brain penetrates the shield"

"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And
I can picture us attacking that world because they'd never expect it."
"Broken promises don't upset me. I just think, why did they believe me?"
"One thing vampire children have to be taught early on is, don't run
with a wooden stake"
--Jack Handly, Deep Thoughts

"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and
Juliet is AAAHHHHHHH THE SUN!!!!!" *FOOM!*
-- Toreador Theatre

[Patryk Adamski]

Isn't it probable that Rotshreck is the other form of frenzy?

Perhaps it represents the primal fear of destruction ... the
Beast does not reason, the Beast acts upon impulse.

That's why I have many Rotshreck rolls made when characters face
imminent threat to their existence.

An example of play:
" Basil's blood sploshes wetly against your faces as
sudden sword strike cleaves him in two! "
( Basil was a healthy Brujah Ancilla,
yet he died from one blow ... )

--
*-
| Patryk Adamski, email send to Hol...@ucinvl.uci.agh.edu.pl |
-*
"Yet even your darkest shade a canvas forms (found on
Whereon my eye must multiply in swarms Shade Retainer
Familiar looks of shapes no longer there." card)
Baudelaire, "Obsession"

[Jo Hart]

LenaFalk <lena...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19970720120...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
> In dark ages,
> you simply *needed* them to survive, to heat the house, to light
> the torches you keep so far away from, and an explanation why
> vampires in dark ages are usually clad in shadows.

I thought everyone was clad in shadows in the Dark Ages when it was night.
Thats why it was called the dark Ages ;)