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I'm trying to think up the various ways in which a vampire might be able to cross into North America, somehow bypassing the Rio Grande or other moving bodies of water.

For instance, would someone who was in the process of dying and then changing into a vampire first be able to cross the river?

Thanks in advance for your response.

Step 1
Get yourself a box full of dirt and a couple of hirelings.
Mind control the muscle for safety.

Step 2
Put yourself into that box full of dirt.
Schedule your hirelings to take that box full of dirt across the river at noon. Here's where the mind control comes in handy to make sure they don't open the box.

Since the Vamp is asleep, they will not know they crossed running water until the next night, no fear, no panic, no problem.

Step 3
Profit. Bloody, delicious profit.


Also, remember that the Vampire intelligence can make a new master vampire anywhere in the world, they just need a willing fool to accept the transformation.
There's literally nothing stopping a master vampire being created inside Chi-town walls, and only the vigilance of the Coalition prevents that whole city from becoming a swarming cesspool of the undead.
Making a new master north of the river is child's play by comparison.

Also, unless something has radically changed, there's a lot of Mexico/US border that isn't along the Rio Grande. Like, go west a bit.

Technically Vampires are already in North American as Mexico is part of the continent, but if you mean the US/Canada they are already in the South West of the US per WB14 and Mercenaries.

Magical means like Teleport that they might now/retain from their previous life (I don't know if it made it into Rifts, this might be a PF2 thing LotD2 pg143) or they get someone else to do the magic like Mystic Portal or Teleport: Superior.

Bridges also work (WB1o pg28) though it requires a saving throw, the previously mentioned getting someone else to carry one across. They could also dam up the river.

There is a loop hole as text indicates the vampire can not willingly cross running water, however that means there are involuntary methods available like explosion (sends one flying, if a punch can knock them down then an explosion could send them flying) or use of a "catapult" (or similar device) or tossed by the strong guy or a simple blind fold w/ear plugs (won't know when/where the running water is, direction may be an issue). Flying might also be an option (especially if you can't see the running water, otherwise all you would need to do to keep Vamps out of communities is indoor plumbing and set some water on a constant loop with occasional top offs)

Mark Hall wrote:Also, unless something has radically changed, there's a lot of Mexico/US border that isn't along the Rio Grande. Like, go west a bit.

there are rivers in NM and arizona to deal with too, but generally smaller ones..

ITWastrel wrote:Step 1
Get yourself a box full of dirt and a couple of hirelings.
Mind control the muscle for safety.

Step 2
Put yourself into that box full of dirt.
Schedule your hirelings to take that box full of dirt across the river at noon. Here's where the mind control comes in handy to make sure they don't open the box.

Since the Vamp is asleep, they will not know they crossed running water until the next night, no fear, no panic, no problem.

Step 3
Profit. Bloody, delicious profit.

this. vampires always have non-vampire servants and allies. it wouldn't be hard for them to pull something like Dracula's trip to England.. a few sealed coffins filled with earth, stuck in crates and carried to the destination by servants and allies. sleeping the whole trip through. you could even smuggle in the more feral "wild vampire" versions if the master and secondary's stake them into the coffins. you can unstake them when you arrive and they'll be just fine.

Also, remember that the Vampire intelligence can make a new master vampire anywhere in the world, they just need a willing fool to accept the transformation.
There's literally nothing stopping a master vampire being created inside Chi-town walls, and only the vigilance of the Coalition prevents that whole city from becoming a swarming cesspool of the undead.
Making a new master north of the river is child's play by comparison.

this also. and we know that two such groups have been created in NA.. one in Colorado centered on Silverado (WB14 new west), another in New Mexico/AZ led by that Ex-CS officer. (WB 28: Arzno)

glitterboy2098 wrote:there are rivers in NM and arizona to deal with too, but generally smaller ones..

No problem. Make the trip in the summer. Any waterway that isn't a really major one will dry up during the day and take most of the night to be more than damp sand.

ShadowLogan wrote:Technically Vampires are already in North American as Mexico is part of the continent >Snip<

Darn...y'beat me to it! (I love reminding people that Panama is part of North America!)

Vampires probably can't cross under a river via tunnel right?

Kraynic wrote:

glitterboy2098 wrote:there are rivers in NM and arizona to deal with too, but generally smaller ones..

No problem. Make the trip in the summer. Any waterway that isn't a really major one will dry up during the day and take most of the night to be more than damp sand.

ah yes the famed seasonal nature of the

*checks notes*

Colorado and Gila river systems.

glitterboy2098 wrote:

Kraynic wrote:

glitterboy2098 wrote:there are rivers in NM and arizona to deal with too, but generally smaller ones..

No problem. Make the trip in the summer. Any waterway that isn't a really major one will dry up during the day and take most of the night to be more than damp sand.

ah yes the famed seasonal nature of the

*checks notes*

Colorado and Gila river systems.

I did ranch/horse work for several years in Arizona. Seeing how far (above ground) running water had progressed in the morning on streams was fascinating to me as someone that had grown up mostly in the appalachians with bountiful water.

Axelmania wrote:Vampires probably can't cross under a river via tunnel right?

Given bridges work (with a HF saving throw), I don't see why a tunnel wouldn't work. Probably would work better - you can't see the running water...

True, pad...however, you *know* that the water is there.

That being said...if the bar is psychological, you would have to have someone transport you.
If the bar was supernatural, passing under would probably work, since; honestly, there is almost no where on the planet where water is not flowing under the surface.

Hehehe...The ultimate Vampire Trap... Teleport them to the Antarctic ice sheet. The entire thing is flowing water!

Catapults.

-STS

Now I've got the image of a trebuchet dragging a casket on the ground before flinging it in the air and across the Rio Grande.


Daniel Stoker

Daniel Stoker wrote:Now I've got the image of a trebuchet dragging a casket on the ground before flinging it in the air and across the Rio Grande.

"PULL!"

And a vampire hunter sitting on the other side, with a silver-loaded shotgun.

My job here is done

-STS

Mark Hall wrote:

Daniel Stoker wrote:Now I've got the image of a trebuchet dragging a casket on the ground before flinging it in the air and across the Rio Grande.

"PULL!"

And a vampire hunter sitting on the other side, with a silver-loaded shotgun.

Correction...20mm AA gun with silver shrapnel prox loads. (Cheaper than a Bofors.)
Shotgun may not pierce the material of the casket.

Alternatively, place a half-gram silver plate on the tip of each flechette in a Boom Gun, and go turkey shooting!

Borast wrote:

ShadowLogan wrote:Technically Vampires are already in North American as Mexico is part of the continent >Snip<

Darn...y'beat me to it! (I love reminding people that Panama is part of North America!)

Doh!

ITWastrel wrote:Step 1
Get yourself a box full of dirt and a couple of hirelings.
Mind control the muscle for safety.

Step 2
Put yourself into that box full of dirt.
Schedule your hirelings to take that box full of dirt across the river at noon. Here's where the mind control comes in handy to make sure they don't open the box.

Since the Vamp is asleep, they will not know they crossed running water until the next night, no fear, no panic, no problem.

If you were controlling the hirelings to take it across then I think you would be aware...

It probably works better if the Master controls the hirelings to take his secondaries across and doesn't tell them about the plan.

Why would you need the boxes of Dirt? Everything from Canada to Mexico is still the same landmass and counts as soil of homeland.

because magic doesn't care about geology?

i mean, scientifically that isn't true anyway, the soil in different areas have wildly different particulate compositions, chemical traces, etc. even within the same state you can get wildly different soil types and conditions.

but magic isn't chemical, its alchemical. metaphysical not physical.. i mean stars are suns, and moonlight is reflected sunlight, yet those are harmless while daylight burns them. its just a trait of magic that it has conditions that often defy scientific examination. that a vampire has to bring with it a box full of the soil of his home village or the place where he as turned is just a mechanic of the magic that makes vampires work. it represents a mystical link to a specific spot in the landscape. if he wants to move, even so much as to another village? he has to bring a bit of that specific spot with him.

glitterboy2098 wrote:because magic doesn't care about geology?

i mean, scientifically that isn't true anyway, the soil in different areas have wildly different particulate compositions, chemical traces, etc. even within the same state you can get wildly different soil types and conditions.

but magic isn't chemical, its alchemical. metaphysical not physical.. i mean stars are suns, and moonlight is reflected sunlight, yet those are harmless while daylight burns them. its just a trait of magic that it has conditions that often defy scientific examination. that a vampire has to bring with it a box full of the soil of his home village or the place where he as turned is just a mechanic of the magic that makes vampires work. it represents a mystical link to a specific spot in the landscape. if he wants to move, even so much as to another village? he has to bring a bit of that specific spot with him.

Not if the vampire's staying on the same continent as the village is located on, as would be the case when moving from some village in Mexico to a town outside the 'Burbs.

glitterboy2098 wrote:because magic doesn't care about geology?

i mean, scientifically that isn't true anyway, the soil in different areas have wildly different particulate compositions, chemical traces, etc. even within the same state you can get wildly different soil types and conditions.

but magic isn't chemical, its alchemical. metaphysical not physical.. i mean stars are suns, and moonlight is reflected sunlight, yet those are harmless while daylight burns them. its just a trait of magic that it has conditions that often defy scientific examination. that a vampire has to bring with it a box full of the soil of his home village or the place where he as turned is just a mechanic of the magic that makes vampires work. it represents a mystical link to a specific spot in the landscape. if he wants to move, even so much as to another village? he has to bring a bit of that specific spot with him.

I was speaking from a game mechanic perspective, under the weaknesses for vampires it states clearly that a Vampire reborn in Mexico can pretty much count all of North America as his own home soil so if a Vampire really wanted to it could trek from the Vampire Kingdoms all the way to Madhaven and still be on the soil of his/her homeland. and if we want to talk metaphysics it could be that as long as there's any sort of unbroken land path back to the spot where he was born it counts, so a Vampire born in Ireland would need Irish soil in England and France while a Turkish Vampire would be fine through out the Eurasian supercontinent

Arzno

They're already here. Buy off passage thru that VIs territory and your off to the races.

glitterboy2098 wrote:because magic doesn't care about geology?

Well, at least the first three letters are correct....
Should that not be geography? After all, what is a line on a piece of paper, but an artifical creation?

As for "soil of the homeland" restrictions...if you are a GM that is a "piece of work," that can mean the soil has to come from as little as a few dozens of hectares (or less), to any soil from anywhere on the planet...or it can be psychosomatic.
Heck, I know a guy what convinced a storyteller that if he handed a law book to some random victim on the street, and asked said blood donor to read a paragraph to a single page, he could nosh on the "law student" in question, because he could only feed from law students or lawyers.
It all depends on the person running the game! (Like me, where you squirt a vampire with a joke flower, he or she puts you through the (concrete) wall behind you for ruining the expensive silk jacket (s)he's wearing! )