“So be it that he has gone elsewhere. Good! It has given us opportunity to cry `check' in some ways in this chess game, which we play for the stake of human souls.”
-Van Helsing in Bram Stoker’s Dracula
So I have started to re-read Dracula again. Something I like to do every so often. Inevitably I get back to something I have always wanted, a Dracula themed chess set.
What I want is the Franklin Mint to come out with one so I can agonize about it for years and finally find one on eBay. But to my knowledge they never have made one. The closest I have seen is a Scooby-Doo chess set. So I want something nice, a show-off piece.
So far it doesn't look like anything like this exists. I have found one ancient blog posting about it, but that is it.
Plus, when it comes right down to it, I am not a chess junkie. I enjoy the game. I know it's importance in the communities I frequent (education, psychology and gamers), but I don't play very often and when I do play I do it only causally.
But this is something I'd still like to have.
I would make it a traditional chess set (no alternate rules) and I have had the pieces in mind for years.
Black
King - Dracula (obviously)
Queen - Lucy in her vampire or "Bloufer lady" form.
Bishops - Dracula's other brides (yeah missing one)
Knights - his gypsy henchmen
Rooks - Castle Dracula
Pawns - Wolves (with bats maybe)
White
King - Van Helsing (again an obvious choice)
Queen - Mina Harker
Queen's Bishop - Jonathan Harker
Kin's Bishop - Dr. Seward
Knights - Quincey Morris and Arthur Holmwood
Rooks - Seward's Sanitarium
Pawns - Holmwood's dogs.
I like how these fill out honestly. Though I do need a place for Reinfield. Maybe as one of the black Knights
I might have enough D&D minis to do this with, at least on Dracula's side of things, but not really for Van Helsing's side.
I guess my search goes on.
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4 comments:
There must be craftsmen out there you could commission to make you a unique set (if you didn't mind taking out a second mortgage or selling some precious internal organs to finance it!)
I think Dracula's black coach would make an interesting piece. Maybe as a black knight?
Also, when I think of Dracula, I think of all the trains and sailing ships they use to get around. Maybe a train or ship could be one of the rooks?
I would:
* choose locations for the Kings (Dracula's Castle and Carfax Abbey) with
* Dracula & Van Helsing as the Queens... preferring to match potency rather than gender.
* Black Knights use the Demeter and Dracula's coach, with Lucy and Renfield as bishops.
A neat thought experiment.
I know people who buy reaper minis and make custom chess sets from puter gaming minis.
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