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Pre-Dracula Vampire Literature Masterpost Part II: 1850 - 1897

1850-1859

Le Vampire (The Vampire) by Alexandre Dumas (1851) [Cadytech.com]

Le Vampire (aka The Vampires of London) by Angelo de Sorr (1852) [Black Coat Press - English Translation ($)]

La Baronne Trépassée (The Dead Baroness aka The Vampire and the Devil’s Son) by Pierre Alexis Ponson du Terrail. (1852) [Ebooksgratuits.com - French PDF] [Black Coat Press - English Translation ($)]

“Le Vampire” (“The Vampire”) by Charles-Pierre Baudelaire (1857) [Fleursdemal.org - Multiple Translations] [Poemhunter.com]

“Quetait-ce?” (“What Was It?”) by Fitz-James O'Brien (1859) [University of Adelaide] [Bartelby.com] (not explicitly about vampires, although it does concern a creature that bites sleeping people)

1860-1869

Le Chevalier Tenebre (The Shadow Knight aka Knightshade) by Paul Henri Corentin Féval (1860) [Black Coat Press - English Translation ($)]

“The Mysterious Stranger” by Anonymous (1860) [The Literary Gothic]

“The Cold Embrace” by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1860) [GoogleBooks] [Gaslight] (not explicitly about vampires, although it does concern the re-arisen dead)

“Les Métamorphoses du vampire” (“Metamorphosis of a  Vampire”) by Charles-Pierre Baudelaire (1860) [Fleursdemal.org - Multiple Translations]

Le Vampire Du Val-de-Grace (The Vampire of the Val-de-Grace) by Leon Gozlan (1861) [GoogleBooks - French] [Archive.org - French] [Black Coat Press - English Translation ($)]

Spirite: A Fantasy by Théophile Gautier (1861) [GoogleBooks] [Wikisource - French] (not explicitly about vampires, although it does concern the re-arisen dead)

“The Vampire; or, Pedro Pacheco and the Bruxa” by William H. G. Kingston (1863) [GoogleBooks] (concerns a bruxa, rather than typical Slavic vampires)

La Vampire (The Vampire aka The Vampire Countess) by Paul Henri Corentin Féval (1865) [Project Gutenberg - French] [Black Coat Press - English Translation ($)]

La Ville-Vampire (Vampire City) by Paul Henri Corentin Féval (1867) [Archive.org - French] [Black Coat Press - English Translation ($)] (apparently features Gothic author Ann Radcliff as a vampire hunter)

“The Last Lords of Gardonal” by William Gilbert (1867) [GoogleBooks: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3] [Gaslight]

1870-1879

Vikram and the Vampire by Sir Richard Francis Burton (1871) [Project Gutenberg] [GoogleBooks] [SacredTexts] (concerns a vetana or baital, rather than typical Slavic vampires)

“The Vampire Cat of Nabéshima” by Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford in Tales of Old Japan (1871) [GoogleBooks] [Project Gutenberg] (concerns a bakeneko, rather than typical Slavic vampires)

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, in his In a Glass Darkly (1872) [GoogleBooks] [Archive.org] [Project Gutenberg] [Lesvampires.org] [SFF.net]

“Ombra” by Mrs. Richard S. Greenough, in Arabesques (1872) [GoogleBooks] [Archive.org] (concerns an animate corpse-like double awakened by the use of blood)

“Strigoii” (“Ghosts”) by Mihai Eminescu (1876) [Gabrielditu.com - English and Romanian]

Le Capitaine Vampire (Captain Vampire) by Marie Nizet (1879) [Black Coat Press - English Translation ($)]

1880-1889

“The Fate of Madame Cabanel” by Eliza Lynn Linton (1880) [Scribd][Vampiresrealm.files.wordpress]

“Posle Devedeset Godina” (“After Ninety Years”) by Milovan Glišic (1880) [Kodkicosa.com - Serbian]

“The Man-Eating Tree” by Phil Robinson, in his From Under the Punkah (1881) [GoogleBooks] [Archive.org] (about a carnivorous plant, rather than a human vampire)

“Klara Milich” by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1882) [University of Adelaide] (not explicitly about vampires, although it does concern the re-arisen dead)

“The Vampyre” by Owen Meredith (1882) [GoogleBooks] [Archive.org]

“Life’s Secret” by Rev. Lal Behari Day, from Folk Tales of Bengal (1883)[GoogleBooks] [Archive.org] [Project Gutenberg] [Vampiresrealm.files.wordpress - PDF] (concerns a man mystically killed and brought back to life)

“The Vampire” by Jan Naruda (1884?) [Project Gutenberg]

“Manor” by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1884) [Urania Manuscripts] [Project Gutenberg - German]

“Strigoiul” (“The Vampyre”) by Vasile Alecsandri [Lesvampires.org] [Thevampiresrealm.wordpress.com - Romanian]

The Horla by Guy de Maupassant (1887) [University of Virgina] [Project Gutenberg - French]

“Ken’s Mystery” (aka The Grave of Ethelind Fionguala) by Julian Hawthorne (1887) [East of the Web]

“A Mystery of the Campagna” by Anne Crawford (under pseudonym Von Degen) (1887) [GoogleBooks] [Vampiresrealm.files.wordpress.com - PDF]

1890-1897

“The Old Portrait” by Hume Nisbet (1890) [Multoghost.files.wordpress.com]

“The Vampire Maid” by Hume Nisbet (1890) [Project Gutenberg] [Lesvampires.org]

“Let Loose” by Mary Cholmondeley (1890) [Project Gutenberg] [The Literary Gothic] [Lesvampires.org] (not explicitly about vampires, although it does concern the re-arisen dead and a specter seeking the blood of a victim)

Le chateâu des Carpathes (The Castle of the Carpathians) by Jules Verne (1892) [Archive.org] [Project Gutenberg - French]

“The Vampire” by Felix Dahn (1892) [GoogleBooks]

“The Death of Halpin Frayser” by Ambrose Bierce (1893) [GoogleBooks] [East of the Web] (not explicitly about vampires, although it does concern the re-arisen dead and a great deal of blood)

The Parasite by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1894) [Project Gutenberg] [University of Virgina] (about psychic vampirism, rather than sanguinary vampirism)

“The True Story of a Vampire” (aka “The Sad Story of a Vampire”) by Stanislaus Eric aka Count Eric Stenbock (1894) [Lesvampires.org]

“A Kiss of Judas” by X.L. (Julian Osgood Field), in his Aut Diabolus Aut Nihil, and Other Tales (1894) [GoogleBooks] [Archive.org]

Lilith by George MacDonald (1895) [Project Gutenberg] [Ccel.org]

“Good Lady Ducayne” by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1896) [GoogleBooks] [University of Minnesota Duluth] (not explicitly about vampires, although it does concern the harvesting of a victim’s blood)

“The Vampire of Croglin Grange” by Augustus Hare (1896) [Project Gutenberg] [Lesvampires.org] [National Wildlife Foundation - PDF]

“Phorfor” by Matthew Phipps Shiel (1896) [GoogleBooks]

More Vampire Lit [x]

Werewolf Lit: [x]

Adapted from this forum post. Original poster has not read all works listed, but has applied descriptive/helpful notes where possible.

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Listen to Imager by L. E. Modesitt Jr. on Audible. https://www.audible.com/pd/B002V8LK0I?source_code=ASSORAP0511160007

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Some Nautical Magic Items (D&D 5e)

A random collection of salty artefacts for people to stumble across.

Trinkets

A plain, rusty sword hilt covered in barnacles, that sounds like the sea and whispers of salt and blood when touched.

A battered green glass fishing float, half filled with water, in which odd motes of greenish light bob and float, causing the bauble to emit a watery, green, dim radiance to a distance of 5ft.

A flute carved from whale bone that cannot be played, but sings a mournful whalesong by itself when held.

A 2-inch scrimshawed ivory plaque carved with a large seabird that absorbs any blood spilled upon its surface without staining.

Common Magic Items

SAILOR’S SALVATION (Wonderous Item). This leather waterskin has a chased silver mouthpiece. If filled with seawater, the waterskin converts it to clean, fresh drinking water after 1 minute. This transformation does not work on other liquids.

GRACEGIRDLE’S GUSTY MOTIVATOR (Wonderous Item). The product of gnome wizardry, this marvellous item appears to be a roughly 1ft diameter conch shell, beautifully carved, and mounted on a swivel attached to a pair of metal vices that would allow it to be fastened to the hull of a rowboat. If affixed to the rear of a small rowing vessel, the gusty motivator provides power to the boat equivalent to a sail, allowing the rowboat to move at a speed of 2 miles per hour without all that strenuous rowing nonsense. The boat can also be steered by adjusting the motivator on its swivel.

SAILMAKER’S NEEDLE (Wonderous Item). This heavy sailmaker’s needle, designed for moving through canvas, is enchanted to greatly speed repairs. As an action, the bearer can touch the needle to a piece of damaged cloth or sail and speak a command word, whereupon the needle with fly into the air and beginning repairing the material at a speed of 2ft per minute until it either runs out of material or the command word is spoken again. The needle produces its own thread to do this. It is not advised to use the sailmaker’s needle to repair clothes unless one is satisfied to have them stitched with sail thread.

Uncommon Magic Items

SCINTILLANT NET (Weapon (Net), Requires Attunement). Woven of strange, faintly glowing seaweed, this net does not restrain its target, but rather binds itself to them on a successful hit. The target must make a DC 14 Strength saving throw. On a successful save, the net deals an extra 1d4 poison damage and falls away, returning to your hand. On a failed save, the net binds itself to the target and sinks into their hide for 1 minute. The target may repeat the save at the start of each of their turns, the net falling away and returning to your hand on a success. While bound in this way, the target’s speed is reduced by 10ft, and their form is outlined in bluish-green luminescence, granting advantage to all attacks against them, and rendering them unable to benefit from invisibility.

Rare Magic Items

REACHER (Weapon (Pike), Requires Attunement). This heavy boarding pike has a beautiful bronze finish protecting its iron head, and is carved with images of grasping tentacles along its wooden haft. You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. On a successful hit with this weapon against a large or smaller enemy, the wielder can use a bonus action to attempt to pull the enemy forward off their feet with the hook. The enemy must make a Strength saving throw (DC equal to 8 plus your proficiency plus your strength modifier) and is knocked prone on a failed save. In addition, this weapon has 3 charges which replenish every day at dawn. The wielder can expend a charge as a bonus action to teleport to an unoccupied location that they can see within 40ft of them.

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boldredsgrandadventures2wTreasure Golem for tonight's encounter (model by Reaper Miniatures)! Stats (helpfully generated by Chatgpt): Large construct, unaligned Armor Class: 16 Hit Points: 147 Speed: 30 ft. STR 22 (+6) DEX 9 (-1) CON 20 (+5) INT 3 (-4) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 1 (-5) Damage Resistances: Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks Condition Immunities: Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned Senses: Darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 10 Languages: Understands the languages of its creator but can't speak Challenge: 11 (7,200 XP) Magic Resistance: The golem has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Reflective Surface: Ranged weapon attacks made against the golem have disadvantage if the attacker can see their reflection, as the surface of the golem's body is reflective. Actions Multiattack: The golem makes two slam attacks. Slam: Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (3d8 + 6) bludgeoning damage. Treasure Burst (Recharge 5-6): The golem releases a burst of magical energy. Each creature within 10 feet of the golem must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw, taking 24 (4d10) force damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. bluemafia30002s How much is he worth when he falls? I imagine his component parts either fall in a heap when defeated or a mystical portal opens and sucks all his treasure back into another plane or his component parts all fall to the earth and transform into unremarkable rocks. bluemafia30002s Further I would make it so that if it crits when it hits and the target fails a saving throw, target's wound becomes a jewel encrusted form similar to the golems, unless a saving throw is made. Targets felled by the Treasure Golem become jewel encrusted statues. Unrevivable, but with extreme effort, cost, and use of mystical power can be reanimated into an awakened form with the personality of the victim and all the powers of the Treasure Golem. Though I would make that so that it rarely worked.

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The Sword of MacGuffins

A Quick One-Shot Dungeon

I ran this for some friends on Dorkly’s Twitch channel in about 90 minutes. I ran it using Dungeon World, but it should be easy in your fantasy game of choice. 

During character creation, I told the players that they were seeking a legendary magic sword, and I let them tell me why they wanted it. You could do the same, or come up with your own reason. 

I also told them that somebody else was also looking for the sword, and they told me it was another character’s brother. This was good to have in my back pocket if I needed to inject some excitement, but you don’t need to use it if you don’t want to. 

I then let them tell me what the legends say guards the sword. They chose a manticore. This easy to do on the fly in Dungeon World, but you can pick a puzzle or whatever in advance in D&D if you want. 

—

1. A square, dimly lit room with a door on the other side. In the middle of the room, on a platform, sleeps an Ogre. The key to the door is on a rope necklace around his neck. 

2. A long hallway. There’s a large, ornate door on the other end. It’s locked. Near the door is a statue of a woman - she’s holding her hands out. She used to be holding an orb - if the orb is returned, the doors will slowly lurch open. There’s a door to the West. There’s a crack in the East wall that a medium sized creature can squeeze through with some effort. 

3. A party of goblin adventurers have holed up in this old crypt, distraught. They’re more afraid of the party, and aren’t interested in fighting. They came into the ruins through Area 4, looking for treasure. They found the statue in Area 2, and took the orb that she was holding (causing the ornate doors to slam shut). They got into a scuffle with the kobolds in Area 5, who stole the orb. The goblins are hatching a plan to get it back, and welcome the characters help. If the PCs are friendly, the goblins are cool with them using the orb to open the door – but they want it back! 

4. The goblins came in from these caverns. There’s a ladder somewhere leading down deeper into the caves. The party can escape the dungeon here if they didn’t kill the Ogre in Area 1 and don’t want to deal with it. You could throw an ooze or a mimic or something in these caves if you’re overdue for some action. 

5. There’s a small society of Kobolds living in the caves around the ruins. The caves are probably bigger than this map suggests. There are a handful of traps and makeshift alarms set – If the PC’s set off a trap, a hunting party of kobolds will quickly greet them and attack if they have an advantage. 

6. Kobold Camp. The kobolds will recognize that the PC’s will chew them up in a straight on fight - so they’ll only attack if they have an advantage over them, like having them tied up in traps. If they do sense an advantage, they’ll attack like cannibalistic chaos monsters. They’ve already given the orb to their “god” in Area 7 as tribute. The kobolds say that they’re welcome to see if their god will loan the orb to them for their quest. 

7. A small underground lake where a Giant Octopus Creature dwells. The orb that belongs to the statue in Area 2 is glowing green in the middle of the lake. An underwater tunnel to the North probably leads to another section of the cave, if you want. 

8. A large worship chamber for the Sword. The is a large fissure to the North that is too far to leap across. A statue has crumbled over the gap, creating a very dicey “bridge” that the PCs will have to cross with care. If there is a guardian, it’s up to you where it is or how it presents itself to the PCs. It could also be fun to have hoards of undead arise from the fissure when the PCs take the sword. 

You can also have the rivals for the sword appear at this time and have an all-out brawl. 

—

Maybe this will be of some use to you! Like I said, I recently ran this on Twitch, if you want to see how it went down for me. It ended up much different than I intended! 

Let me know if you end up using it in any capacity! 

[pipuisrpg]

show, don't tell:

anticipation - bouncing legs - darting eyes - breathing deeply - useless / mindless tasks - eyes on the clock - checking and re-checking

frustration - grumbling - heavy footsteps - hot flush - narrowed eyes - pointing fingers - pacing / stomping

sadness - eyes filling up with tears - blinking quickly - hiccuped breaths - face turned away - red / burning cheeks - short sentences with gulps

happiness - smiling / cheeks hurting - animated - chest hurts from laughing - rapid movements - eye contact - quick speaking

boredom - complaining - sighing - grumbling - pacing - leg bouncing - picking at nails

fear - quick heartbeat - shaking / clammy hands - pinching self - tuck away - closing eyes - clenched hands

disappointment - no eye contact - hard swallow - clenched hands - tears, occasionally - mhm-hmm

tiredness - spacing out - eyes closing - nodding head absently - long sighs - no eye contact - grim smile

confidence - prolonged eye contact - appreciates instead of apologizing - active listening - shoulders back - micro reactions

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It's very funny to me that the stereotypical gelatinous cube is bright fucking green when the monster itself is almost perfectly transparent. Like its gimmick is that it's a monster that imitates an empty 10x10 hallway. How many people have fallen victim to gelatinous cubes because they "know" that the ooze is bright green and so don't bother to check the suspiciously clean corridor in front of them.

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Not DnD related, but, a loooooong time ago, I made a mockup of a character sheet for a hypothetical mini Ninjas TTRPG. It's a shame we never got a part two.

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Someone requested a more detailed picture of the combat cards I made, so here you go! I made these for Pathfinder, but they could easily be altered for other editions

The list of examples for each action type is by no means exhaustive, but these are the things I most commonly see my players doing in combat. These don’t even encompass all the action types in Pathfinder - there are also Free Actions and Immediate Actions. But the former are largely determined by what the DM will let you get away with, and the latter are uncommon enough to require case by case analysis.

The cards exist mainly to help players keep track of what they have already done in a round, and the examples are there to give them a starting point to consider their options. :) They are color coded so players don’t get their cards mixed up with each other.

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Today there is a solar eclipse set to cover the sun with 100% totality for a duration of 4 minutes, 28 seconds. However as time passes, the eclipse continues for 5 minutes, then 7, then 10. Half an hour passes but the moon has not moved and Earth remains in darkness

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Lliira

Our Lady of joy, Joybringer, the Mistress of Revels

Lliira is a beloved goddess, a deity of contentment, release, joy, happiness, dance, and freedom. As the patron of festivals, she is honored at any celebration, and dance is the primary way to worship her. The Mistress of Revels is said to abhor violence, and any fighting or drawing of weapons (except in ceremony) at a celebration will cause her to withhold her favor. Her priests and priestesses, known as joybringers, take it as their mission to make other people happy, even if just for a moment.

Her faithful a lways wear at least one clothing item of a bright, cheerful color, and her priests' vestments have more in common with festival attire than with somber ecclesial garments. Rubies and sapphires are sacred to Our Lady of Joy, and her priests bless anyone they see wearing such adornments.

Lliira's followers aren't frivolous, however. To them, divine joy is a very real gift to the world of mortals, and one much needed. To that end, they fight those who would bring misery to others. They are fierce against their foes, and joyous revelers when their work is done.

source: Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide pg. 33

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✨New item!✨ Tsuba of the Crane Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)

You can attach this tsuba to a longsword, greatsword, rapier, shortsword, or scimitar by pressing the tsuba against it for at least 1 minute, at which point it replaces the sword’s hand guard. Thereafter, the tsuba can't be removed unless you detach it as an action or the weapon is destroyed. A sword can only have one tsuba attached to it at a time.

If a sword is nonmagical, it counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage while this tsuba is attached.

While you are holding a sword with this tsuba attached and you are hit by a ranged weapon attack, you can use your reaction to deflect the missile. Make an attack roll with this sword. If the total number rolled is equal to or higher than the attack roll of the incoming ranged attack, you deflect the missile and take no damage. This attack cannot benefit from advantage or disadvantage. - 🖌🎨 Like our work? Consider supporting us on Patreon and gain access to the hi-resolution art for almost 200 magic items (wow!), printable item cards and card packs, beautiful creature art and stat blocks, and setting pdfs with narrative hooks and unique lore!🧙‍♂️ Thank you so much for your support! 💖

📜 Credit. Art and design by us: the Dungeon Strugglers. Please credit us if you repost elsewhere.

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Reblog so everyone can hear what they need.

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107 Broken Sanctuary

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Hey Tumblr! I’m a dnd homebrewer who migrated from Twitter so I’m gonna be posting a few of my subclasses! This is the Rime Knight fighter, a crowd control focused fighter who’s really based on the iceborn from League of Legends! 

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Your partner is trying to hide their nonhuman nature. You figured it out months ago but play along because you find their antics amusing.