Last night I dreamed that I was making a movie pitch: Sherlock Holmes as a vampire. I brainstormed evidence to support this thesis. Here’s what I came up with in the dream:
Pretty decent bulleted list for a dream. I’m sure pop culture has already generated this idea somewhere. I should add something that didn’t occur to me till I woke up: vampires (at least in 1e) have Exceptional Intelligence.
I should add that Sherlock Holmes canon does include a vampire story; a fall off Reichenbach Falls can’t kill him; and he’s still around in modern London, looking younger than ever.
using this in a game
Sherlock Holmes is sometimes presented as an ally of, rather than a member of, society. A vampire that aligned himself this way would be admirably suited to be a detective. Charm powers, plus the various disguise powers like fog and bat form, plus wolf form so he can be his own Toby the bloodhound, plus exceptional intelligence, equal a pretty implacable pursuer of evildoers. Naturally, there’s a Moriarty vampire somewhere in the city.
Maybe the PCs, not NPCs, are the detectives in your game. You might be interested in a Javert-vampire instead: an implacable chief of police that keeps the PCs and other lawbreakers in line. The city might have passed a law that allows him to feed on condemned criminals. There’s motivation to secure convictions!
I immediately thought of the old TV series Forever Knight.
But Sherlock Holmes as a vampire would have been much cooler.
Not quite Sherlock Holmes, Vampire, but you might enjoy the comic miniseries The New Deadwardians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_Prosecutor
No, Moriaty is a vampire hunter!
Oh of course!
Along similar lines, there was the DC comic “Batman: Nosferatu” in which “The Detective” (Batman/Bruce Wayne) is the vampire Nosferatu:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Nosferatu
I have read a lot of fanfics with this premise. Usually leading to John Watson feeding him blood.