Holy hell am I glad that I read this thread, to know that runes are bugged. Imagine how hilariously disappointing it'd be to spend a ton of work crafting an awesome adamantine blade for my adventurer and bifrost plate (at least, I theorize that bifrost may be better than adamantine) full of runes.
OP, on the other hand, should be glad he died horribly to the ancient vampire. That's how I died too, exactly, strangling and all. Because ancient vampire blood, like vampire lord blood, is friggin useless... you need a bite. And they would much rather strangle you.
Your best bet in becoming a master vampire is to find a master vampire in town, get him to join your party, and send him to fight a nest of hydras alone. Kind of treacherous, but master vampires usually have killed thousands of innocent people, so...
Also, I like to delete the possibility of minor and lesser vampires, and werebeasts I find undesirable, to be created through deific curses. Then you're much more likely to get master vampires, and more likely to get master vampires in towns.
I would personally try to defeat an ancient vampire by creating a campfire in the narrow tunnel leading to it, and shoot it with arrows. One arrow to the leg should bring it down.
I had supereverything fighting related, legendary everything fighting, EXTREME!! high wrestling/fighting (like level 100+), but I was still killed and strangled to death in the blink of an eye.
You may also want to bring along demons.
