Goodfang / Badfang

So, here's the thing with vampires: there are two different types. Both are incredibly different, and also incredibly consistent/insular/archetypal.

Type 1: Doesn't feed on human blood anymore, stiff-lipped, emotionally rigid, denies others sexually, constantly lords "you don't know what it's like to be a monster!" over humans, constantly lords moral superiority over greater monsters.

Type 1 Vampires once fed on blood, and were in their early days notorious as some of the worst killers ever. Thus, they are constantly brooding about their past, and will immediately threaten anyone who shows up from their past, due to the potential that figure has to pervert their new-found virtue or to spread tales of their ghastly past.

Type 1 Vampires include: Angel (Buffy), Edward (Twilight), Jasper (Twilight), Bill Compton (True Blood).

Type 2: Feeds on human blood. Sexy, seductive, predatory, conceited. Hedonistic, powerful, and constantly playing power games. Everything they say sounds like a metaphor for giving in, sexually. It's all about giving in to the desire, and being rewarded for it.

Type 2 Vampires are vulnerable to their baser instincts, and can hardly resist a chance to feed on someone, whether we are talking literally or metaphorically. This is their only undoing. But beware - the power they draw from human blood is mighty. Type 2 Vampires often travel together in groups (covens in the lexicon of Twilight, nests in the lexicon of True Blood).

Type 2 Vampires include: James & Laurent & Victoria (Twilight), Riley (Twilight: Eclipse), The Master (Buffy S01), Eric & Pam (True Blood, S01 especially), Liam & Malcolm & Diane (True Blood S01).

So! I'm thinking that I should have two different Skins for Vampires. Type 1 and Type 2 vampires have different strengths, drives, mannerisms, goals, and approaches.

So, introducing...

The Goodfang &
The Badfang.

What do you think?

Hmmmm, that's a good breakdown (I'd add Gary Oldman's Dracula to type 2, though not very "teen"). It seems like something that could be done a few ways:

1) You have two moves under "you get one of these two" and then the ones to pick from as usual
2) You have a smattering of vampire moves and let players mix and match, maybe with some color nudging towards these two archetypes, but not making them explicit

3) Add another category between the looks stuff and moves stuff, and pick one or the other, maybe with mechanical differences, maybe not. The advantage here is that it's an expandable concept to the other playbooks, the downside is that if you wanted every playbook to have such an either/or option, it might be forced for some of them

4) Something cooler and more clever that I can't think up!

So, looking over my original post, I realize I missed actually spelling out my mechanical ideas for Goodfang / Badfang.

Two seperate Skins (playbooks) - one for the brooding pacifist, one for the human-feeder.
Really, in the fiction, they are entirely different archetypes.

#1 of your list was my other thought.

Hmm. I totally agree that these archetypes exist and are almost always completely separate. But I also didn't see a problem reproducing both from what I've seen of the Vampire Skin so far. I kind of like the idea that both archetypes are essentially postures on top of a fundamental similarity. And the same weaknesses, realistically, threaten both of them, etc.

My impulse is always to have as small a number of archetypes with a maximum amount of player control/interpretation/twist on top of that, though. The trickiest part just seems to be that the good vampire and bad vampire seem to have very different thresholds for their Darkest Self -- but I would like to suggest that when it comes to the actual stories, this really is only a matter of seeming. The difference is that the bad vampire's non-darkest self is still pretty monstrous -- but both types seem to have about the same amount of truly out-of-controlness going on (with the exception of straight-up villainous bad vampires; and are those really meant to be PCs?)

Do Goodfangs and Badfangs have the same Sex Move? In True Blood they don't, but maybe in the rest of the genre they do.

Both types of Vampire are Hot & Cold, predominantly.

So, the moves could be like:

Vampire Moves

You get one of these:

Repentant
Mark 1 experience when you defend a human against trouble you have brought to them.

Human-Feeder
When you drink the blood of another, carry +1forward. If this is the first time they have ever been fed upon, mark 1 experience.

You also get 2 of these:
[Other Moves]