Tuesday, September 7, 2010

I need a Dracula Chess set

“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.

.

4 comments:

Tim Knight said...

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!)

DeadGod said...

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?

Vincent Diakuw said...

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.

Gaming Ronin said...

I know people who buy reaper minis and make custom chess sets from puter gaming minis.