bending stereotypes

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

But earlier vampire fiction lacks such 'kryptonite'. Most notably Dracula, who walks around by day. Or do you think the issue applies to pre-Nosferatu vampires too?

It is less an issue with villains and monsters. Finding some way to deal with a high unkillable villain can make a good story. It's harder to form a story around an invincible hero.

And as others have said, older vampire stories often featured vampires that were extraordinarily tough, but not the virtually unstoppable forces (minus a couple of weaknesses) they would later become.

So it isn't "everybody knows vampires are traditionally killed by sunlight" but "you took away one of the few features (however modern an addition to the folklore it may be) that could make a vampire protagonist compelling." Add "to me" if you prefer.

[Flyndaran]

I see your point and even agree for the most part.
But with how often boring and cliche the "oh look, another chunk of 'rare' kryptonite" is in Superman stories, the sunlight bane of otherwise unkillable vampires strikes me as too similar.
To quote Uncle from The Jackie Chan cartoon, "magic must defeat magic." To alter that concept maybe make the story about how only super powered creatures can defeat super powered vampires.
That is kind of how Monster Hunters works as the PCs sure as heck aren't really human all things considered.

[simply Nathan]

Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit

The heterosexual no sex before marriage elf.

Funny thing is I am not familiar with this one being played much differently, or at least not in anything memorable. It's also how I play elf bards, haha.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit

The heterosexual no sex before marriage elf.

That's almost exactly Tolkien's elves, except they were also not much sex after marriage.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit

The heterosexual no sex before marriage elf.

My elves were a bit different. They might 'marry' a puppy love in their youth, but such immature phases pass quickly, and marriages like these rarely last even a century. They'd be virtually, if not actually, celibate by the time they were recognized as adult. Note that means that where an elf that marries a human will watch the spouse age and die, he or she would likely have drifted away from an elf spouse in about the same span of time.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by whswhs

That's almost exactly Tolkien's elves, except they were also not much sex after marriage.

Technically they could marry on their own if they were the only possible witnesses to each other(I.E in a Blue Lagoon situation) and in that case sex was itself considered marriage.

[David Johnston2]

Reptilian aliens who aren't evil. Period. End of story. There are a few in science fiction but they are vastly outnumbered by the ones who equate "cold-blooded" with "inimical to humanity".

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Reptilian aliens who aren't evil. Period. End of story. There are a few in science fiction but they are vastly outnumbered by the ones who equate "cold-blooded" with "inimical to humanity".

Reptilian aliens are as likely to be evil as good. Some are saints and some are tyrants and most are in between. And the good ones are normal parts of the universe not just token heroic orcs.

Reptilian aliens aren't hideous either, even to human eyes. In fact they are richly colored, like, for instance, a coral snake.

[Flyndaran]

Reptilian/avian/etc. females that don't have boobs.
I know games like WoW have a bad habit of making male aliens look properly alien, but always default to human woman forms with just a hint of alienness.

[Flyndaran]

Female dominated societies that aren't absurd over the top exaggerations of modern misogynistic cultures.
Same goes with species where females are larger and slightly more aggressive without being monstrous "kill all dissenting men and enslave the rest".