The undead never dies. Even in Dracula's final destruction in most forms of popular fiction, he always seems to come back.

Wouldn't it be interesting if this game veered to the left and had an expansion that was set in modern times? Hunters of the 21st century are hunting good old Drac down? I think that would be kind of cool.

What do you guys think?

I am sorry, I think for once I am going to disagree. This game is really based on the book, so... plus, if there were to be an expansion, I'd rather like many tiny boxes that bring new content and new mechanics cards instead of a big box with a new board (like a modern times board, as you proposed). Because I think that game requires more mechanics and more complexity instead of new background or more of the same content.

But anyway, as your own message, this one of mine is pure subjective opinion

I'd like to see some kind of inhuman entity being hunted. Dracula's been done fairly often and the fact that he never dies could make the end unsatisfying. Vassels of his that have fully matured, a manufactured psychic who goes berserk (a la Akira), or even just a guy with sensitive info being backed by a shady group would have a fresher, more original theme than just plopping him in the future. Like Sherlock Holmes in the 21st Century. That was very unsatisfying.

Awesome idea. Prague would be a good city. Or Paris

It's an interesting idea, provided you could balance it - given modern transport links, it would be much easier to pin down the bat...

Shin00bie said:

It would also be much easier for Dracula to escape. With the advent of air travel he would have no reason to use sea zones. Even if he had to spend blood on planes when crossing water, there would be any number of places that plane might land. Also, the map would have to be expanded to the whole world. Again owing to easier travel there's no real reason for him to stay in Europe.

I have to admit, even though I'm opposed to the general idea of expanding this game (each new expansion would necessarily take the game further away from the novel upon which it is so deeply based by adding new content), the number of ways a modern day variant of this game could be expanded are intriguing.

I still don't think I'd want to see this as an expansion of FoD, but a different game that uses the same basic mechanics and has you hunting someone or something else could be very interesting...

Wouldn't he be encroaching on the territory on other preternatural baddies and draw unwanted attention to them if he left Europe?

Gatha said:

There was no indication of any other supernatural creatures in the original novel (beyond the new vampires Dracula himself created, of course.) In fact, I don't remember if the novel even got into how Dracula himself became a vampire (I know the Francis Ford Coppola movie did, but I don't remember if that was in the book or not.) Maybe such creatures exist and maybe they don't, but this is a pretty thinly veiled excuse to keep the game in Europe. This is also the sort of thing that makes me leery about the idea of any expansions to this game - when you start making things up you take the game further and further away from the original work that spawned it. The base game is genius because it really only makes one assumption - that Dracula was not in fact killed by the final confrontation at the end of the novel. Everything else is just the setting of the novel opened up to players' meddling.

That's also why I said that I'd prefer a modern version of this game to be a completely different setting using the same mechanics. The prey might still be a vampire, but drop all references to Dracula if you're going to go that far. You'd be making up too much new material to keep it connected to the original novel.

You're right, Steve, and that makes me think of something : a serial killer chase type of thing. Instead of Dracula, "just" a **** serial killer in a modern world. That could work. People seem to love that kind of s**** nowadays. Exciting topic for a something-chasing game, I guess.

Hem said:

Dexter: the Board Game!

Dun, dun DUUUUNNNNNN!

FFG, get on that.

No seriously, that would rock. One player is Dexter, trying to evade capture while killing other killers along the way, the other players are various cops trying to catch the Bay Harbor Butcher in the act. Give the Dexter player a few advantages (inside info on investigations, access to a forensic lab, etc) that could get taken away if the cops "discover" his identity and force him underground.

The only real stopping block is that the artwork/flavour text would probably have to have some pretty graphic mature content mixed in to maintain the feel of the show, which could make it difficult to market while making clear that parents should not buy this for their kids.

I think there is room for more 'adult' board games but I am not sure that fits in with FFG's image. That is when a company develops another branch to make them under a new name. Best of both worlds.