Dracula stalks the streets of London in 1892. Does this remind you of a classic novel by Bram Stoker? Is this adventure just a thin rip-off of a classic or is it something new? To answer honestly, yes and no. Yes the adventure uses the main character(and some supporting characters) and setting, but the plot and personality of Stoker's work have been allowed to develop along some logical alternative courses.

Historically, Dracula was one of the greatest tacticians of his time; gathering substantial strength from meagre resources to fight a numerically vastly superior foe. Dracula was able to do this through cunning, diplomacy and inimidation. Dracula fought when and where he wanted; against the foe of his choice. He also knew when to cut his losses and when to bend in the wind. His power can be subtle and his ambition is great, and he can be run as the center of an adventure which pits the players against a subtle intellect rather than just a powerful beast in the form of a man.

To understand Dracula you need to have a grasp of his situation. He is the Nosferatu, the Undead. He is a supernatural being who needs to feed on the blood of the living to prolong his own unnatural life. For all of his many supernatural powers, he is a singular individual with many weaknesses and trying to survive in a potentially hostile environment. While he was greatly changed by his conversion to being a vampire, he is still the same Balkan commander who was able to expand and maintain his holdings in the face of treachery and powerful foes. For Dracula power and security are the key to survival. He can never have enough of either. He is alone and vulnerable, human and yet unable to be fully part of humanity, kept apart by a natural defense of megalomania and paranoia developed over centuries of educational experience.

After that quick overview of the central character, we should consider his actions and goals in London. In this alien environment he is without his regular base of power, he is in a potentially hostile, even lethal world. In such a situation Dracula would seek to gain a position of relative security and power in as short a period as possible while remaining anonymous. He did not come to England unprepared; he studied the English and the land for years in preparation. If you remember the novel, he had a whole library of Angliana. Even so, his knowledge is second hand and dated by the distance it had to travel to get to him. To remedy this he would have to supplement his information on arrival, ordering several months of the local papers (for current events), more recent books, and general observation. Dracula would also try to get control over persons in positions of some power with the potential to protect him, not necessarily Mina Harker or poor flower girls. While he would have an interest in the ladies, he would not let that lead him into danger as he values survival above all else. Through his power over women and his unique abilities he can indirectly and secretly manipulate the men who run the society. Perhaps the most important source of power for him is secret information, and blackmail could be one of his greatest tools. Awareness and anticipation are the keys to survival for the vampire.

It is now September 4th of 1892 and Dracula has built up his power base. He has gathered influence since his arrival during the summer, with power over major businessmen and even perhaps a few Members of Parliament, as well as some status in the underworld. He has social status, friends and connections, and none of these associates realize more than a hint of his unusual nature. He also has spies and agents planted in the government and around the city. However, his covert nocturnal activities have roused interest, though not yet connected to him. A semi-secret, informal Special Inquiry Board has been commissioned by the Home Secretary (Henry Matthews). It consists of Members of Parliament, some representatives of Scotland Yard and some private citizens. It is supposed to conduct a secret and informal investigation of mysterious deaths (those caused by Dracula, with a few others thrown in by mistake). Their main objective is to see if the fact that several victims were of some importance indicates some plot against the government. Dracula has yet to become really aware of the purpose or membership of this group though he knows it exists. His interest has just been piqued and he has yet to take any real action. As a cover for his killings Dracula has revived the fear of Jack the Ripper who has been innactive for 6 years. In addition, he is prepared to lay false clues to direct the investigators towards two secret societies, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and a revived version of the Hellfire Club, both of which are full of confused and dubious spiritualists and loonies of various sorts.

Characters can be drawn in by any of several means. One or more of them could be members of the Metropolitain Police force based out of New Scotland Yard, and depending on rank, they could be members of the task-force or else working for one of the members, such as Inspector Bollard or Commissioner Monro, gathering information and doing investigation. They might also be allowed to bring in other characters as outside assistants. They might also be assistants to one of the private citizens on the task-force. If one of them is a doctor, the most recent murder can take place outside of his residence and he will be called to the scene to examine the body. Investigators might also be hired by the families of the victims or know the victims, and be working in parallel to the task-force, though they might be brought in if they have useful information. They also might witness one of Dracula's attacks and become targets to be silenced by him as a result. An easy way to work it all out is for all of the victims to know the latest victim, Reginald Jameson, a Solicitor in the city working for Charles Stuart-Wortley, the chairman of the Special Inquiry Board. Jameson is a lawyer and a member of the Guards Club, and has contacts in many areas of society. He could have mentioned to each of the characters his involvement in a special and important assignment right before his death. If you really want to blow the players minds, if you have a female investigator you might have her become one of Dracula's victims. By this time there are even some new female vampires waking up around town under Dracula's command, and one of them might pick a male investigator as a victim. Such a victim would fall under the control of the vampire and become an excellent source of information for Dracula, or as an inside saboteur.

The Special Inquiry Board or was created by Charles Stuart-Wortley (Under Secretary of the Home Dept) and Sir Reginald Hanson, for the express purpose of investigating the rash of related murders in the city and the reasons for them, particularly those deaths of persons in the government. They are also suspicious about the behavior of certain MPs and others. The nucleus of the committee is made up of former Guards members and they meet in a private room at the club. They have become rather defensive of late as two members have been killed. All told there are some 35 people working on the investigation iin one way or another, but of these only 12 are actual members of the board, while the rest are assistants to them. The members are: Charles Stuart-Wortley (Under Secretary Home Dept), Sir Reginald Hansen (MP), Brian Bollard (Inspector, Metropolitain Police), Earl Brownlow (Undersecretary of War), Henry H. Gibbs (MP), John Monro (Commissioner of Police), Sir John Lubbock (MP), Henry Matthews (Home Secretary), Henry Steel Olcott (American Author and Lawyer, expert on the occult and chairman of the Theosophical Society, currently visiting London), Sir Richard E. Webster(Attorney General), Reginald Jameson (Solicitor) (Deceased), and Adam Hutchison (Secretary of Tory Party) (Deceased). The only members who know who all the other members and involved persons are are Stuart-Wortley, Hansen, Bollard, Brownlow, and Webster. The rest are of limited or provisional involvement, and these five form the core of the group. Another person who might be brought in is Dr. Basil Nicomachus, of North London Hospital, who is an expert on Forensic Medicine.

The recent victims and killing sites of the 'slasher' are Reginald Jameson on Oxford Rd.(Solicitor: September 4), Patrick O'Brien on Byron St.(Unemployed Laborer, September 3), Thomas Greer on Hannover Ter.(Guards Sargeant on Leave, September 2), Anne Chapman on Whitechapel Rd.(prostitute, August 31), Adam Hutchinson at Ludgate Hill (Secretary of Tory Party), Miriam Lyford at Mile End Work House (unemployed seamstress, August 26), Edith Blound (Nurse, London Hospital, August 21), Thomas Darby on Chiswell St.(Clerk at W. London Docks, August 17), Prudence Blair on Lower Oxford St.(prostitute, August 16), and Brigit Gilhaney at Houndsditch (prostitute, August 11). In all of these cases the throats and necks of the victims were mutillated and mangled, presumably to cover up wounds, and the bodies were drained of blood, though in the cases of the male victims the blood was not completely drained. In addition to these deaths there have been a serious of unexplained deaths of victims mostly from heart failure, seemingly from fright, in locked rooms and other unlikely circumstances. Victims in these cases include four Members of Parliament, among them Thomas Tremarin (suicide), an important Whig in the House of Commons from Devon, as well as two prominent West End businessmen and Deputy Inspector James of the City Police Force who was investigating the slashings in Whitechapel(this case was one of an accidental but suspicious fall, not heart failure).

All of these deaths are the work of Dracula. The first group are in in his quest for food which he has disguised as the work of a psychopath, mangling the victims in a manner not at all characteristic of himself or most vampires. The more mysterious cases were also his work, but with the specific goal of maintaining his cover. All of these people were causing him some difficulty and had to be eliminated. Tremarin was trying to shut down the operation of some businesses controlled by Dracula. He was forced to commit suicide, and this suicide seemed so unlikely that it was one of the main reasons for the formation of the Special Inquiry Board.

Remember that Dracula is not dependent on random victims for his sustenance, though he occasionally uses them. His preference is to find an attractive woman and feed off of her gradually, putting her under his power and visiting her by night to feed, or in some cases even associating openly with her. Eventually such victims will become vampires if he has exchanged blood with them, but only if he drains them to the point of death or they die on their own. In addition he has living servants drawn by his power. Two of his covert female victims have died in the last month, Eleanor Chambliss wife of a well-off haberdasher in London and Miriam Lloyd, a teacher at the Jew's School on Tavistock Sq. Both are dead and buried, and have bereaved middle-class families. Both walk again, and work with their master. In addition, he has two current living victims who he is visiting. The first is Lady Cynthia Ruthven, an upper class widow in her thirties, who he has seen socially and who lives at St. John's Park in the West End. She is very attached and loyal to Dracula, and will use her influence and connections to protect him. The second victim is Daphne Webster Jones, the daughter of the Attorney General, who lives with the family of her husband, Captain Hugh Jones, who is abroad in India with the guards. She is watched over by her mother in law who is concerned over her weakness and sickliness. Dracula hopes to use her to influence her father. The families and friends of these victims are not yet aware of their status, and investigators may know the victims. Dracula is also served by the madman Renfield, who is kept in the Lunatic Asylum at Bethnal Green.

Dracula's attempt to work under the cover of the return of the Ripper or a Ripper imitator has been so successful, with the Sun_ running such headlines as 'Slasher Killer', 'Ripper Stalks Anew', while the Times preferred a calmer 'Unknown Killer Claims 7th Victim'. The talk in the streets centers on the brutal slashings, and every grocer or cabby has a few ideas. They believe that the Ripper is punishing all of society, not just ladies of the evening. Cabbies won't go to Whitechapel or the docks after 10, and those who do will ask for double rates. Residents won't talk to outsiders and there are doubled police patrols in the area, searching outsiders and removing them from the area. It is said that victims were mauled and organs removed, and that their faces bore looks of unholy terror. This is not quite true to the actual situation, and rumor has created many variations of the story.

Remember that there may be other people involved in the investigation who may be a help or a hindrance. There is always a chance that Sherlock Holmes will be called in by a relative or by the Special Inquiry Board, or even by the characters, and there might be those among them who know the great detective. Another investigator who they are likely to run into and be annoyed by is Sammy Stubbs, a reporter for the Sun, who is working on the slashings and a rather persistent and resourceful fellow with connections in low places and a real ear for any kind of news or gossip.

The Situation

The adventure should begin with the murder of Reginald Jameson in his intown apartment on the west end of Oxford St. There is some sign of a struggle. It appears that the victim had little chance and was totally overpowered. His neck and upper body are horribly slashed and mutillated, and it is impossible to tell which was the fatal wound. There are no witnesses, and the report of the coroner is inconclusive if they seek it out. Some of these clues will only be availalble if they are at the scene close to the time of the killing, and some require a skill roll.

A successful Observation roll will show that the victim was armed with a swordcane which has slid under a couch. A second Observation roll at -20% will spot the fact that the body was drained of blood and that there is less blood on the scene than was lost, implying that he may have been moved, though the fact that what there is was splattered while fresh seems to belie this.

Forensic Medicine skill will show the lack of blood, and a successful roll at -35% will show that some of the wounds were administered after death.

A successful Search roll will turn up an almost empty appointment book with a meeting listed for the next night with the notation S.I.B., G.C. 9:30. While this means Special Inquiry Board, Guards Club, 9:30, indicating a meeting, the investigators should not be able to determine that unless they have special contacts.

A successful roll on British Folklore will give the impression that the murder is vaguely reminiscent of some Druidic sacrifices. A successful Eastern European Folklore roll will give the impression that the killing is of supernatural or ritualistic origin, possibly the work of either a very clever or very sloppy Nosferatu. A successful Gallic or Germanic Folklore roll will give the impression that it might be the work of a were-wolf or a loup garou. A successful African Folklore roll will bring to mind ritual killings of certain underground leopard-worshipping cults of West Africa. As you can see, confusion in the interpretation of clues is a useful tool, and conflicting trails could result.

If the investigators have the opportunity to use the Psychic Skill Necromancy, they will discover from the spirit of the victim a limited amount of information, specifically that he was working for the Special Inquiry Board and that he was following a lead (false) to a Whitechapel warehouse. His knowledge of the attack is limited. He was attacked when returning to his dark apartment by a tall man who he did not see well who knocked him out somehow (it's all a little fuzzy) and then did him in. He is only a peripheral member of the Special Inquiry Board, and really only knows Stuart-Wortley. The next night was to be his first at a meeting of the board.

If the players have Precognition they will see that the murders will continue. If the investigator is particularly adept, he can tell that the next three will be on September 6, 8 and 12, and that one will be a prostitute and the other two men, one old, one young.

Another clue which will be easy to spot is a folded up newspaper article being used as a bookmark in a book by Jameson's bed. It is an article about the theft of 4 wolves from the Zoological Gardens about two months before.

General Investigation

This is a relatively unstructured scenario, consisting mostly of background information and characters. The challenge for the players is to gather a variety of information, find out just what is going on, find the perpetrator and put an end to it. Given here are some informational resources and how they might apply.

New Scotland Yard/The Metropolitain Police: The Metropolitain Police have just been reformed and moved into New Scotland Yard, so things are a bit disorganized. In many cases information will be jumbled and files may be lost. Information on the murders is highly confidential and will not be given out to just anyone. If characters are in the police force they will have better access, but there may still be some information which will still be held back. All files can be opened on command of the Special Inquiry Board. Dracula does have servants/contacts in the Yard and investigators might be discovered.

Medical Examiner's Office: Reports on all of the victims are kept here, but only qualified persons may examine them. Files show the absence of blood, and cause of death as multiple lacerations with a surgical knife or other sharp blade. Some wounds made after death. Persons with high medical skills and Autopsy might work in this office.

Newspapers: There are nearly 500 newspapers and periodicals published daily in London and the environs. Most maintain libraries of back issues. An important fact to remember is that sensationalism sells papers and many reports may be exaggerated, altered or almost totally fictional. Some reporters may have contacts unavailable to the police or investigators.

Underworld Connections: This includes various informants and street sources. Many people will talk to private investigators before the police. This includes a variety of disreputable sorts with dubious information. Some may have witnessed part of some crime and fled. Most of the murders occured when most 'good folk' are snug in bed. Thieves tend to know what goes on in their territory, possibly including suspicion of the location of some of Dracula's coffins. Of course, a good number of these informants will also be in Dracula's pay.

Interviewing Witnesses/Family: An excellent but difficult source. Most family members will not talk to non-police investigators, and may be generally hostile to questioning, and witnesses may be uncooperative unless paid. Following this course could lead to Dracula allies or to flack from the Yard for interfering in the investigation. It could be considerably more rewarding in investigating the cases of the two women who died from long-term feeding, if they are found as potential cases to investigate.

There are also, of course, more specialized routes of investigation depending on the information needed. Such things as university libraries, the British Museum, public archives such as the Public Record Office and the like might apply depending on the course taken.

Keys to Tracking Dracula

The first problem is identifying Dracula as the subject to be tracked. Before identifying a specific person it should become clear from hints that this is a supernatural or at least ritual-oriented case, which might suggest investigation of the Hellfire Club and The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the relatively respectable Odyssians Society or other similar groups. These two organizations are discussed later, and should appear as likely suspects early in the investigation. Further investigation will lead to the idea that there is an individual responsible with unstated purpose. A leap of deduction will probably make vampirism one of the possibilities under consideration, along with other similar aberations. In early stages of the investigation you might have them meet Dracula (probably under a pseudonym such as Dr. Emile Corday), and get to know him, as he might arrange this to keep an eye on them, presumably on a social level. One of his personality traits is a desire to know his enemies and victims and a feeling of supreme sself-confidence, leading to a desire to amuse himself by playing mental games with potential victims. Eventually they will start looking for a vampire and develope some ideas and places to look, considering the fact that the murders started recently and that there may be patterns, as well as the requirements of vampires for survival.

Check with Realtors: Dracula needs safe places to sleep during the day where his native earth can be secreted in coffins. The obvious possibility here is private houses rented for that purpose. The exact number and distribution of coffins is unknown, but it should be fairly easy to track down some of the coffins through houses rented. While in London Dracula is using the names Dr. Emile Corday, Ladislau Lotz, Hugo Sittich, Rudolf Von Erlach, Count Emilio Moscogni and Baron Franz Szoreny. Some of these houses have been bought, some rented, one under each of these names. In addition, other people have taken houses at the same time, including various mysterious foreigners. His main cover is Dr. Emile Corday, and that is his public identity, through which he knows Dr. Basil Nicomachus and several other background characters. In that cover he owns Harrow House. In addition, he has houses which he had Renfield and Lady Ruthven purchase in his behalf. All told the GM should distribute about a dozen private residences around the city mostly in the End, but covering all ends, left essentially vacant except for a couple of coffins. They were obtained through different realtors, specifically the companies of Carter, Patterson & Co., Billington & Son, and Hawkins & Co. In addition, and less likely for characters to think of, he has rented space in a couple of warehouses through the commercial realtor Clark & Goodlow, and in also, his finest bolt hole is that he has been secreting coffins in unhallowed graveyards, particularly criminal graveyards near the City Prison at Newgate, Bethlehem Hospital and Millbank Penitentiary, as well as some old abandonned churchyards. This helps him cover the bad parts of town, and his abilities let him dematerialize and seep into the pocket of his native earth hidden within the earth of England. Note that it will be almost impossible for them to find the coffins he has hidden out of town in Whitby, Norfolk and a country house in Northumberland. This will be an exhaustive and distracting route of investigation, and some of the spots may be defended by animals placed there (wolves, bats, rats).

Check with Shipping Companies: When Dracula arrived he used the moving company Bloxom and Smollett to get coffins to three main points(warehouses), from which he moved them on himself, distributing some 30-60 coffins all told. When he arrived he had 20 coffins full of earth, and he now has at least twice that many which are half full or more with less. It is possible to find the records of the arrival of the coffins by boat, their transport to the three warehouses and his purchase of 40 new coffins (at a high price and with so some payment for secrecy) from Dobit, Sons & Co.

Cross Index Recent Deaths: This can be useful for finding undiscovered victims, and if they know they are looking for a vampire they might find the victims who have become undead themselves. They might also be able to figure out how many new vampires there are and where they are. Remember recent vampires have to stay in London soil as they are natives of that area. Including the two most recent vampires already mentioned above Dracula has a total of some 8 lovely ladies who he has acquired over the summer.

Other means of tracking Dracula may present themselves depending on the characters' skills. Remember that it is also quite likely that Dracula may decide to stalk one or more of them, probably with grim results, such as leaving a hungry wolf in their bedroom, calmed and ready enhanced by his skills, or actually taking them out with a vampirette or himself. This depends on what kind and degree of a threat they present.

Major False Suspects

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the New Hellfire Club are semi-secret mystical/gnostic groups in the city who are likely suspects for such ritual killings or at least good places to find people who might commit them. It is important to note that one of Dracula's false names will show up as a member of each group, as he has an interest in the occult, of course it will take some work to get these names. Another familiar name which might show up on the rolls is that of Dr. Basil Nicomachus who might be a good false lead himself( see Shadow of a God for more detail on him).

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is a Celtophillic organization of pseudo-druids under the leadership of S. L. Mathers, with a distinguished and literary membership which includes W. B. Yeats and A. E. Waite. They are openly known but not publicized and try to maintain some privacy, holding secret druidical rituals and the like. There is a large amount of dissension within their membership and several factions with the most conservative group lead by Waite, while Mathers is more of a moderate, and with a few real lunatic-fringers in the wings, who just might try to do a druid sacrifice. Mathers will deny any involvement of himself or members in the crime, and while he won't show a roster, he will allow one non-police investigator to attend a meeting (where no one uses their real name and some harmless rituals go on). A little investigation might lead to implications of grimer actions, particularly by some questionable members. Mathers will suggest investigating the New Hellfire Club, which he dislikes. The Golden Dawners may get defensive if investigated, and some of the dozen or so reactionaries of the 60 or 70 members might take action. They fit standard stats, but radicals may have some psychic skill, particularly Aerokinesis, Demonoscopy, Electrokinesis, Empathy, Geokinesis, Necromancy, Pyrokinesis, Shapeshifting and Spirit Magic. Their action is most likely to be through indirect magic which will be more annoying than lethal.

The New Hellfire Club was formed by a person who calls himself Sir Thomas Dashwood (Actually Sir Thomas Dashwood Burleigh), the grand-nephew of the founder of the original Hellfire Club. He is a younger fellow, originally a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, who split off with two dozen followers to found a truly secret and really dangerous group which leans more towards satanism than druidism, mixing different forms of black magic with drugdrug-use and various mumbo-jumbo. They are all young, radical and dangerous, and willing to take reprisals, both physically and through magic, with similar skills as given for the other group. They hate the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and won't appreciate being informed on. Dashwood and his people are very secretive and very paranoid, and have done some human sacrifice, but only a few times and always in secret meetings outside of London.

Harrow House

Harrow House is Dracula's official residence as Dr. Corday, and his main base of operations, so it is well defended. He has some 12 coffins stored here and stays here about 75% of the time if possible. There are usually three or four wolves on the grounds, controlled and used as guard dogs, plus bats and rats as well as 2 to 4 female vampires and security guards hired from the Benson Security Agency. The house is an old run down country house in the West End with a bad history. It was built in 1744 and has a record of deaths, disappearances and fires. The second owners were smugglers and it has secret passages in and out as a result. It has been vacant for some years, but Dracula is having it remodeled and plans to entertain if he can secure his position enough. It has large grounds and high fences. It was obtained for him by Lady Ruthven from Hawkins & Co, where Renfield works/worked. As a result, there is no official record of the acquisition, as Renfield never filed the deed. The house is an imposing structure well off the road with a 10ft wall. There are two entrances, one on Cricklewood La., and a small gate onto Farms La. Most of the outbuildings are unused. Research will discover that there was a fire in 1793 in which the stables and caretaker's cottage burned to the ground. The reports in the papers go on to state that the caretaker escaped miraculously through an undeground conduit, part of a tunnel system which has been boarded up. The tunnels to the house are impassable to any but Dracula, but the tunnel to the ruins of the caretaker's cottage are still passable. The yards are still a bit unkempt, giving good cover to wolves. Most of the house is boarded up except for a central section for meeting guests. However, in general guests will not be welcomed, and will be advised to see Dr. Corday's solisitor, a Mr. Hampton of Fogley & Hawkes(retained by Renfield). The Benson Security Agency is a good firm which asks few questions, hired by Renfield to keep 4 uniformed guards on patrol around the outer wall, and to follow anyone who attempts to enter the house. There will always be one on each gate and two patrolling. They do their job and are trained not to think.

Various encounters are possible in the grounds and outside. Outside it will be guards. Inside expect wolves and rats by day, with bats added by night. In addition, at night in the house, wolves, bats, rats and vampires are possible(roll 1D10: 1-2=Wolf(1 or 2), 3-5=Rats(1 to 12), 6-7=Bats(1 to 20), 8-9=Vampirettes(1 to 4), 10=Dracula). Female vampires will try to seduce visitors, animals will attack, and Dracula will observe and assume a defensive posture, possibly calling in aid, and only attacking if desperate or in very good position.

Final GM Note

This adventure requires some improvisation and invention, and you have to get the situation fully in mind before running it, as there are complex relationships involved, and many counter trends and involvements possible. Remember that Dracula is smart and versatile, and not beyond making deals, subverting enemies, or doing very sneaky things. Also consider the many different types of force he can bring to bear, both directly and through connections. Also remember the possibility of various informed allies in the Special Inquiry Board, the Yard, or even Sherlock Holmes or others.

This adventure is very dissimilar in set-up from that found in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. The purpose of this is to throw off those who have read the novel. Knowledge of the novel is not needed to run this, but it can be a source of additional characters and plot alternatives, including a whole set of foes to add against Dracula. With this type of scenario you should feel encouraged to be inventive and vary the possibilities and situations.