09. July 2017: Ascension of Caine: Bochum (Storyline)

This is the event report from the „Ascension of Caine“ as it was played in Bochum, Germany on July 9th, 2017. This report was written and compiled by the organizer of the tournament, the Prince of Bochum .. many thanks to Hardy for writing this stuff. (Also published earlier on vekn.de)

Final Standings

1 Gerhard R. — 1 GW 4 VP — 148 TP — Nosferatu Multi-act Toolboxy Bleed prominently feat. Cock Robin & Baron Dieudonne
2 Michael H. — 1 GW 4 VP — 90 TP — Ravnos Bleed & Equipment Illusions prominently feat. Ankla Hotep
3 Jan S. — 0 GW 1 VP 112 TP — Toreador AAA prominently feat. Anneke, Alexandra, Anson, & Masika
4 Ralf L. — 0 GW 0,5 VP — 82 TP — Ventrue Old School Law Firm prominently feat. Arika, Democritus, the three G1 Princes, & Wilhelm Waldburg

The Management Summary

One after another, they trickled into the city…. smuggling easily hidden weapons into town… and some of their clan’s most prized artifacts… all preparing for the arrival of their leader Ankla Hotep. The Ravnos planned to end what they considered just an illusion held by the Camarilla: Berlin was to be free.

But they did not go unnoticed: The Nosferatu caught on to what was happening, and rallied the Ventrue and Toreador to the cause. For a brief, but bloody time, Berlin was the center of attention for various Justicars, Princes, and even Inner Circle members, trying to thwart the incursion.

As so often with these nightly wars, after the first successes against the common enemy, there was a large amount of inter-Camarilla backstabbing: Trying to go unnoticed in the chaos, not only did the Nosferatu secretly settle some old grudges with the mighty Ventrue, but also the Toreador managed to have Wilhelm Waldburg, the Prince of Berlin, “accidentally” be killed by one of the Archons present in the city.

In the end, after a desperate struggle, the invading forces managed to scatter the defenses of the Camarilla, beginning with the death of Cock Robin, Justicar of the Nosferatu: The Ravnos might also have lost their leader, Ankla Hotep… but they had broken a hold the Camarilla had had over the German capital for long decades. The Ravnos had ousted the Camarilla from the city of Berlin!

… or had they?

Underground, in a well-hidden bunker, an obese, ugly creature sat, its pale mottled hands typing data into a state-of-the-art laptop. A large spreadsheet showed on the screen. One last number, one return key…. then the result was displayed on the screen. The creature bared a set of crooked, very sharp teeth… and smiled an ugly smile.

Players, Results, Decks, & Prominent Vampires

• 1. Gerhard R., VEKN ID 3820003, 1 GW, 4 VP, 148 TP:
  Nosferatu Multi-act Toolboxy Bleed prominently feat. Cock Robin & Baron Dieudonne
• 2. Michael H., VEKN ID 3840064, 1 GW, 4 VP, 90 TP:
  Ravnos Bleed & Equipment Illusions prominently feat. Ankla Hotep
• 3. Jan S., VEKN ID 3620007, 0 GW, 1 VP, 112 TP:
  Toreador AAA prominently feat. Anneke, Alexandra, Anson, & Masika
• 4. Ralf L., VEKN ID 1003376, 0 GW, 0,5 VP, 82 TP:
  Ventrue Old School Law Firm prominently feat. Arika, Democritus, the three G1 Princes, & Wilhelm Waldburg

Rounds

The event was played in a format of 3 rounds, without final.

• Round 1: Nosferatu (1,5 VP) -> Ravnos -> Toreador (0,5 VP) -> Ventrue (0.5 VP)
• Round 2: Toreador (0,5 VP)-> Nosferatu (2,5 VP, GW) -> Ventrue -> Ravnos
• Round 3: Ventrue -> Toreador -> Ravnos (4 VP, GW) -> Nosferatu (table sweep with 1,5 minutes left on the clock)

Most important locations, equipment and allies

• The Ravnos brought a large and colorful supply of equipment to their attack on Berlin – some real, some only there in the minds of their opponents: Wooden Stakes, Garrottes, Pier 13, Deer Rifle, Blade of Enoch, Karavalanisha Vrana, Treasured Samadji.
• The Ventrue managed to control, and use to good effect (to threaten with, or to actually do damage), the Island of Yiaros in all three rounds.

Most unusual or unexpected actions

• Anneke called a Judgment: Camarilla Segregation, due to which a by then bloodless Ankla Hotep was burned.
• Anneke was selected as target for a Toreador Justicar vote (to allow the player to cycle cards and use a Voter Captivation) – which then just confirmed the title she already had.
• Cock Robin, who in his efforts to block the Ravnos was torporized with a Mayaparisatya, was diablerized by Salbatore Bokkengro.
• Wilhelm Waldburg attempted to aggressively bleed the Toreador, who used an Archon Investigation to burn him.
• Democritus, using the Island of Yiaros, torporized Masika.

VTES History: Prophecies VTES League (Part III: Special Rules Graphics)

Back in early 2004 as part of the Day of Judgment campaign, White Wolf announced a special VTES event called the Prophecies League, which was designated as a (local) VTES league with varying special rules for each match day. This is the third part of the reproduction of the original rules/web page.

If you want to play this format in the near future in your local playgroup, I advise you not to read the full article. You’ll just spoil the fun and surprise of encountering different VTES game environments.

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The 12 Envelopes of the Prophecies

VTES History: Prophecies VTES League (Part II: Special Rules)

Back in early 2004 as part of the Day of Judgment campaign, White Wolf announced a special VTES event called the Prophecies League, which was designated as a (local) VTES league with varying special rules for each match day. This is the second part of the reproduction of the original rules/web page.

If you want to play this format in the near future in your local playgroup, I advise you not to read the full article. You’ll just spoil the fun and surprise of encountering different VTES game environments.

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The 12 Envelopes of the Prophecies

VTES History: Prophecies VTES League (Part I: League Rules)

Back in early 2004 as part of the Day of Judgment campaign, White Wolf announced a special VTES event called the Prophecies League, which was designated as a (local) VTES  league with varying special rules for each match day. Since the rules don’t seem to be available anymore outside of the Usenet Newsgroup rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad and the Wayback-Machine and now VEKN.net, I am duplicating this information here as well. There will be three posts, the first with the general rules, the second with the twelve special rules and one with a picture/screenshot of the special rules (as they were presented on the original website (Time of Judgement).

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Prophecies V:TES League

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Prince Fleurdumal declared Miami Art Museum Elysium for the duration of her lavish party.  With much of kindred society aflutter with talk of Gehenna, she couldn’t resist the chance to host a, tongue-in-cheek, “End of the World” party.  Her invited guests, of course, were like-minded cynics and it was unlikely that any of attendees were prepared to deal with the events the evening would bring.

Fleurdumal outdid herself with an ostentatious display of wealth and decadence as was appropriate for kindred society’s final soiree. One by one, her guests broke free of their gossip and back-handed compliments to congratulate her on the party’s success.  Adelaide Davis, neared the front of the receiving line but stood motionless upon reaching Fleurdumal.  Adelaide stared blankly and then bellowed, “Hearken to the prophet’s words.”  However, the sounds were that of two voices–one male and one female. “Hearken to the words of the oracle,” yelled the male voice.

Mystics Revealed

After the release of the 2015 Storyline reward cards, I was curious what actually changed between the original cards from the storyline (in 2014) compared to the ones just released (in 2015). One of the German players did this in textual form in the German VTES forum, but here’s the graphical comparison as well. Apart from the functional changes (as listed below), there were some editorial changes to make some effects more clear, but which I didn’t list.

Group ANY	Group 5 +1 strength
Group ANY	Group 5
Group ANY	Group 5
Group ANY can steal a title from a Camarilla vampire as +stealth action. during a referendum he can burn one blood to get two votes.	Group 3 +2 votes can cancel a reaction card played by a younger vampire by burning two blood.
Group ANY +1 stealth can burn one blood give +1 stealth to an acting minion.	Group 3 can burn one blood give +1 stealth to an acting minion you control.
Name: Tremere Group ANY	Name: Lord Tremere Group 5
Group ANY can play cards requiring any sect. +1 hand size for each Victory Point.	Group 3 can play & use cards requiring any sect or title. +1 bleed

VEKN Storyline: The Red Sign 2015

Today (March 1st, 2015) the VEKN released more information on VEKN.net about the upcoming VTES Storyline named The Red Sign. But read for yourself:

The Red Sign is a constructed V:TES Storyline event designed for worldwide play during spring and summer 2015.

Except as noted in these instructions, each Storyline game will follow the VEKN Constructed Tournament rules for card play and deck construction. Each Storyline game will be timed to a maximum duration of 2 hours.

At least 75% (e.g. 9 out of 12) of the vampires in each player’s crypt must belong to the same clan. In this context, ‘clan’ includes all bloodlines, Panders and Imbued, but not Caitiff.

In addition to the standard list of VEKN banned cards and errata, the following changes apply:

• The event card Recalled to the Founder is banned.
• The ally cards Mehemet of the Ahl-i-Batin, Order of Hermes Cabal, Outcast Mage, Tara, Hollow One and Thadius Zho have their printed cost reduced by 1 pool.
• The ally cards Nephandus and Veneficti are infernal.

Players may also use any or all of the crypt and library cards provided in this pack in deck construction, with the exception of The Red Sign (see below).

The Storyline will be played in single games, with the results of each game contributing to the narrative. Each play group may play this Storyline any number of times within the allotted time frame.

Players will note that the master card The Red Sign provides an alternate victory condition to win the game.

The following pack contains the full rules sheet, printable PDFs for 48 new library cards and 8 new crypt cards, a Storyline results form and an equivalent e-mail results template.

The contents of this pack may be updated during the course of the Storyline, so please check for updates posted here at www.vekn.net.

DOWNLOADS

• Red Sign — Rules
• Red Sign — Crypt
• Red Sign — Library
• Red Sign — Results form (text format or zipped MS Word format)

Mike Nudd
Storyline Coordinator

VEKN: Storyline Rewards 2015

Today the VEKN has released a set of VTES library and crypt cards as rewards for the Storyline events of the past years. But read for yourselves, the links to the card PDFs are at the bottom of the article:

Official release: February 21, 2015
Legal for Tournament Play: March 23, 2015

Among the core concepts of Storyline events is having the players contribute to the narrative of the World of Darkness as well as to the design direction of future cards in V:TES. Over the past several years, we’ve had unfinished business with respect to realizing these narratives in game form. The following cards represent the participation and contributions that you, the players, have made in the Storyline events, as well as the subsequent playtesting and feedback. We are grateful to all of you, and we look forward to providing more opportunities for you to help steer the direction of V:TES!

As mentioned previously, we’re still waiting for one piece of artwork to be delivered. As soon as the piece arrives, we’ll update the Storyline Rewards .pdf file to include the card.

The Returned (2015)

• Baba Yaga, The Iron Hag
• Lord Tremere
• Mithras
• The Capuchin
• Montano
• The Dracon
• Vlad Tepes

Budapest EC Storyline (2012)

• Bulscu (Advanced)
• New Blood

Battle Lines (2010)

• Winterlich
• Rise of the Fallen

Palma De Mallorca EC Storyline (2009)

• Claudio Severino (Advanced)

DOWNLOADS

• Crypt cards. Size: 16,1 MB
• Crypt cards print sheet (file with multiple copies -from 1 to 9- of the same card per page). Size: 16,1 MB
• Library cards. Size: 12,9 MB

PRINTING INSTRUCTIONS

Before printing out the PDF files, make sure that Page Scaling is set to “None“.

www.vekn.net/official-expansion-sets

VEKN: Storyline Diary — February 2015

Yesterday, the VEKN published the February 2015 Storyline Diary, which gives some information for the upcoming VTES Storyline event The Red Sign. This Storyline will take place from 1st March to 31st August 2015. But read for yourself:

At the beginning of the year I set myself the task of coming up with some grand, epic events for the world of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle which could be played over the course of 2015.

Looking as usual to the role-playing game for inspiration, I came across a wealth of material concerning the crossover between Vampire: The Masquerade and Mage: The Ascension.

The Mage book Blood Treachery originally published in 2000 as part of White Wolf’s ‘Year of Revelations‘ explores the fact that some mages decided that a quick path to power was to steal the accumulated magical knowledge of vampires. And after dealing with vampires they discovered that Kindred vitae contained a magical essence which could be used in their own workings. A conflict then ensues between mages and Thaumaturgists which reaches – after facing mutual, assured destruction – something of a stalemate.

The Vampire book The Red Sign originally published in 2003 as part of White Wolf’s ‘Time of Judgement‘ puts forth the idea that a magical ritual might exist which when cast would return a vampire of any age to his or her original mortal self. This ritual is sought by a number of parties – some vampires yearn for their mortality, while others hope to emasculate their enemies. Mortal mages also seek the ritual, hoping either to restore the humanity of old friends, or to rid the world of the curse of vampirism.

I have already been speaking to Ben Peal and other members of the community about potentially expanding the role of allies within the game. Some of you may recall the Werewolf-themed Ragnarok event which I created for the European Championship in 2013, which I would deem to be a successful – although limited – experiment. I figure it’s time now for something a little more ambitious.

The Red Sign will be a new Storyline running from 1st March to 31st August 2015 that will explore these narrative themes within V:TES. The Storyline will include a full set of new mage allies and new library cards usable exclusively by mages. The format will also include some new vampires, and an alternate win condition for each game. The cards and full rules will be published soon.

For this event I will be collating the game results – and feedback on the cards themselves – all of which will inform the future story of the game. The six-month time frame is intended to give each play group plenty of time to plan their events and perfect their deck designs. As per the last few events, this Storyline will be played in single games, and can be played multiple times by each group.

For those of you that will be at the European Championship in Warsaw in August I hope to see – and play in – at least one Storyline game using The Red Sign over the course of that weekend.

Mike Nudd
Storyline Coordinator

VEKN: 2014 Anniversary Storyline – “The Returned” (Part VII)

I was really under the impression that there will be six mythic vampires as part of “The Returned” storyline. But apparently I am wrong on this, because today, on the eve of the largest VTES event this year, the VEKN published the last part of the “The Returned” with the epilogue as well as the seventh mythic vampire, Vlad Tepes.

Storyline Diary –- October 2014

As I type this I am sitting in the Hotel Luxa in Mannheim, looking forward to playing VTES at this year’s European Championship, which also marks the 20th anniversary of our favourite card game. I don’t have any new rules or cards for you this month, but I thought I would take the opportunity to reminisce a little bit.

When Vampire: The Masquerade was first published in 1991 it really rocked my world. I’d already been roleplaying for a few years and had tried many ‘classics’ including Dungeons & Dragons, Paranoia and Call of Cthulhu. However I hadn’t yet found a game that I could claim as a games master but as soon as I saw VTM I knew that was it.

Mythic Six

VEKN: 2014 Anniversary Storyline – “The Returned” (Part VI)

Today the VEKN has published the 6th Part of 2014 VTES Storyline “The Returned”. This time presenting the Rise of the Nictuku format as well as Mithras as the one of The Returned.

This month I offer a new game format called ‘Rise of the Nictuku’ which uses a special deck inspired by the Nergal deck offered in Infernal Plague storyline from 2004.

Rise of the Nictuku

The Nictuku are dreadful creatures and the childer of the Nosferatu clan founder Absimiliard. Legend has it that he Embraced these monsters specifically to hunt and destroy all of the other vampires descended from his blood. Many modern Nosferatu consider the Nictuku a myth, and a story used to scare fledgeling neonates. However, they are all too real, and are terrible to behold.

This VTES game format presents a special constructed Nictuku Deck, which should be used just like a regular VTES deck, except that it contains a number of special crypt and library cards which are unique to this format (and which are illegal outside of this format).

The Nictuku Deck contains 70 library cards and 4 crypt cards — whoever plays with the Nictuku deck will always start with the same 4 vampires, and these are the only vampires they will have for the whole game.

VEKN: 2014 Anniversary Storyline – “The Returned” (Part V)

This is the 5th installment of the VTES Storyline “The Returned” as published today by the VEKN which includes this month’s mythic vampire, Montano, as well as a small card set for the Bardo discipline (which cannot be used for sanctioned play):

My musings on the Create-a-Clan game format last month led me to think about other Bloodlines, and their unique Disciplines which have not yet received the V:TES treatment.

The Lhiannan are one such example. A pagan offshoot of the Gangrel clan, they are first mentioned in the Dark Ages Companion, and it is implied that they were made extinct long before the modern era. Their unique Discipline of Ogham was a form of Celtic magic linked to the wielder’s environment and home territory.

The Lamia (mentioned last month) were also originally described as having their own Discipline of Deimos (which focused on conjuring nightmares, poisons and doom) before they were re-written in Dark Ages Vampire to possess Fortitude instead.

An ever more obscure reference is that of Bardo, a Discipline formulated by the Children of Osiris who are not a Bloodline as such, but a tiny coalition of Independent Kindred who reject the notion of vampirism and seek to retain their Humanity. First mentioned in the original A World of Darkness: Mummy book, the Children of Osiris were founded by Khetamon, apparently the only surviving progeny of Osiris.

VEKN: 2014 Anniversary Storyline – “The Returned” (Part IV)

This is the 4th installment of the VTES Storyline “The Returned” as published today by the VEKN which includes this month’s mythic vampire, The Cappuchin, as well as a new game variant for VTES:

A popular ‘unofficial’ event format is Create-A-Clan. Originally devised by Ben Peal and nicely summarized by Jussi Hattara here, it is a fun format that lets you come up with your own vampire ideas.

A slight spin on the format is to have a go at bringing to life some of the other ‘canon’ vampire bloodlines from the Vampire: The Masquerade universe. I thought I’d take the time to describe some of them here. (More to follow next month.)

Noiad

The Noiad are an ancient Gangrel bloodline that have in modern times faded to obscurity. They claim to be the first Cainites to enter Europe thousands of years ago. Legend has it they followed a mortal tribe known as the Samí northwards into the lands now known as Norway, Sweden and Finland. They consider themselves the servants of the pagan gods worshipped by the Samí, and consider it their duty to guide and protect the tribe from their enemies.

The extreme conditions of their native lands mean that every year they must endure several months of constant daylight. During this time most Noiad fall into shallow form of torpor and rely on faithful members of the tribe to periodically wake them and feed them. This arrangement requires a great deal of trust and understanding between the bloodline and the Samí people.

Also called Wanderers, the Noiad are actually fiercely territorial and refuse to travel far from their domains. They practice the Disciplines of Animalism, Auspex and Protean, and they use their supernatural powers of perception to interpret the signs of the northern lights, which they believe to be messages from their pagan gods.

VEKN: 2014 Anniversary Storyline – “The Returned” (Part III)

This is the 3rd installment of the VTES Storyline “The Returned” as published today by the VEKN which includes this month’s mythic vampire,  Dracon, as well as a new game variant for VTES:

V:TES Team Play

This proposal is my own spin on the various team formats that have been suggested online. This is not required for your Returned League — as per my last post it’s just another game format for you to try for fun.

In this format players should pair off into teams of 2 players. In a single friendly game this requires 4 players – two teams of 2 players each. A tournament would require multiples of 4 players (so that every table is full) and an even number of teams (so that nobody is left out). In each game each teamed pair should be sat across from each other so that they are both bleeding (and blocking) both members of another teamed pair.

Before the event each team should pick a sect and collaborate on building their decks – the choice must either be Camarilla, Sabbat, Independent or Laibon (I suggest excluding Imbued as they are not actually a sect in the World of Darkness, but you can include them too in your event if you wish). 100% of each player’s crypt should be of the chosen sect, but it may consist of any clans or individual minions which have the correct affiliation. In a tournament every team member should use the same deck for every game of the event.

Each game of V:TES should proceed as normal, using all regular tournament floor rules, errata and banned lists – with the addition that the Event cards Fall of the Camarilla and Fall of the Sabbat are banned also.

The victory conditions of each game are also altered – if either member of a team is reduced to zero pool then that team immediately loses and the game ends. Only the game win is counted.

In a tournament situation the event should be conducted in a ‘swiss’ format, seating opposing teams from most successful to least, with the final round consisting of the two teams that have won the most games in previous rounds.

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This month’s Returned vampire is the venerable Tzimisce known only as The Dracon. Last seen in the days before the fall of Constantinople in the 15th century, the Dracon was a powerful but reclusive figure. Worshiped over the years by many of his clan – and also by those of the Obertus ghoul family – his disappearance has remained a mystery. His legend lives on, and some believe that he may return in the Final Nights to receive the knowledge and learning that his followers have amassed.

Downloads:

• Prologue
• Rules
• Mythic vampire #1
• Mythic vampire #2
• Mythic vampire #3
• […]

— Mike Nudd, VEKN Storyline Coordinator

VEKN: 2014 Anniversary Storyline – “The Returned” (Part II)

When I first started playing [VTES] in 1994 (when the game was still called Jyhad) there was no worldwide community and no tournaments -– just myself and my role-playing friends and the original set of cards. We played with any number of people around the table — sometimes 8 players!.

We also experimented with the game format in other ways. One of the most interesting rules that we tried concerning players keeping their pool totals hidden. It added a whole additional dimension of bluffing, guesswork and tension to the game. It’s something I’ve come back to a few times since just for fun, and I thought you might like to try it too.

VEKN: 2014 Anniversary Storyline – “The Returned”

Today the VEKN Storyline Coordinator, Mike Nudd, has reported about VEKN.net about this year’s VtES Storyline activities. This year’s storyline is named “The Returned“, but read for yourself:

SYNOPSIS

Starting in April 2014, and running episodically each month for the six months leading up to the EC, there will be an Anniversary Storyline called “The Returned“. Each month, a special Mythic Vampire from the lore of the World of Darkness will be offered to the player base as a ‘thank you’ for continuing to play, support and promote the game.

RULES

As per the last two official Storylines, the format will be single games of V:TES where each player uses a Storyline legal deck (i.e. a crypt 75% of the same clan). The Storyline will also require you to keep a league table of game wins among your playgroup.

Any player who achieves at least one game win during the month will be permitted to use that month’s Mythic Vampire in deck construction for the remaining duration of the Storyline. E.g. a winner in month 1 (April) will be able to use the first Mythic Vampire released in any game over the next 6 months of Storyline games.

And at Mannheim any player attending the EC will be encouraged – regardless of league performance – to use any of the six Mythic Vampires in friendly games played during the course of the event (with the agreement of their opponents).

DOWNLOADS

• Prologue
• Rules
• Mythic vampire #1
• […]

Mike Nudd, VEKN Storyline Coordinator

VEKN: Looking Behind, Looking Ahead

The VEKN Storyline co-ordinator, Mike Nudd, has released information about the VEKN’s current activity and future storyline events:

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Hello again everyone. I realise that you have not heard much from me, and so please accept my apologies.

Other work and hobby commitments aside, I will freely admit that I have been devoting more time to working on new cards with Ben Peal in my role on the VEKN Design Team.

To an extent it is true also that it has been difficult to gauge the demand for Storyline material. When I was offered the role I was not given any particular mandate by the IC. At the NC meeting in Budapest in 2012 I said I would be glad to provide advice on World of Darkness ideas created by the community and would happily create events for anyone who asked but alas I did not receive any such requests from anyone over the following 12 months.

In my experience creating Storylines for the last two ECs I have come to the conclusion that many people do genuinely enjoy VTES Storyline, but they care far less about the creation or the results than they do about the playing. And faced with the uncertainty of our favourite game’s long-term future it is clearly more important than ever to keep people playing.

New Storyline Event Announced: “War For Territory”

Today on vekn.net a new VtES Build-Your-Own Storyline event named “War For Territory 2014” has been announced by the Prince of Sao Paulo, Desso Alastor. There’s a clip on the Storyline for starters (see below), the (English) storyline rules and information are to follow later this week.

There’s also an official Facebook page for the Storyline event.

A Lick and a Promise for Ragnarök

Last week we were playing (finally!) the Ragnarök storyline event in the Bochum playgroup. Although we were well beyond the reporting deadline, we had our fun when playing the format. One of our players decided to ignore all this doomsday crap and bleed the hell out of the rest of table with an old school Malkavian ’94 Dom/Obf Bleed deck. So in addition with preventing the world to end, we had not only to put a group of nasty werewolves down, but an equally nasty group of Malkavians as well. The total count was in the end three killed werewolves, 3 dead Malkavians and finally Huitzilopochtli. Of course it was a Baali who was behind all this Malkavian aggression.
In hindsight, I regret that I gave the deckbuilding efforts for the storyline event only a lick and a promise. Partially because we decided on short notice to play the storyline instead of a regular league game, partially because I didn’t put much thought into deckbuilding for the storyline upfront. On the day before we finally decided to the play the storyline I had a few ideas, but I didn’t have the time to actually the build:

• A werewolf deck basically using both Jacob Fermor and Virus-and-Wurm. Both give werewolves +1 bleed, enabling werewolves like Renegade Garou for 2, and storyline werewolves like Fangjumper for 3, and Roger Daly even for 4. Add an Anarch angle with Piper to prevent other minions from blocking the recruit werewolves action. The next step would be to add mostly the combat cards for the werewolves like Lunar’s Armor (prevent damage) and Razor Claws (aggravated damage). For the final touch, you may add Veil of Darkness and Slow Withering, since you’re not playing much discipline based cards (or even none at all).
• Tunnelrunners would work as well with Jacob and Virus-and-Wurm. Bleeding for three at stealth? I’ll take that!
• The special ability of the new Lasombra archbishop Carolina Vález really shines in Ragnorök. Her immunity against allies in combat makes taking down the werewolf adversaries almost too easy. Use the new Danse Macabre card Dark Steel and a Trap, and you’re able kill 7 of the 9 werewolves without paying a blood or taking any damage at all. The rest of the deck could be either a vote (with Giangaleazzo and/or Melinda Gailbraith tagging along) or a bleed(ish) deck.
• Most likely the easiest road to fight the adversaries is Celerity Gun combat. None of the adversaries has a maneuver (or set range to close), and so long range damage with additional strikes kills 8 out of 9 werewolves, possibly requiring a second round/combat. But that’s plain boring.
• Not my idea, but one of our players came up with a Brunhilde & Valkyries deck. Basically the deck makes Brunhilde and/or the Valkyries Anarch and then uses Shattering to inflict two damage on the adversaries. This soften up the adversaries before rushing them. In combat Flesh of Marble and Trap, along with the +1 strength both Brunhilde & Valkyries makes it somewhat easy to kill most of the werewolves and earn the reward. In the game Brunhilde actually were undergoing a Ritual Challenge and eventually was rewarded the spear Gungnir, enabling her to deliver three damage both at long and close range.

In the end, I played a modified Nosferatu antitribu deck, which uses Beast to rush, Olivia for playing Under Siege and Shane Grimald for bouncing bleeds. I only added a few combat cards like Earth Shock (for dealing ranged damage and preventing dodge) and Glancing Blow to prevent hitback from aggravated damage. At first I wanted to Orgy of Blood as well, but then I noticed that the vampire does not get as much life as damage he inflicted, but only the cost of ally after he kills it. But since the adversaries all have zero cost, the card is useless against them.

EC 2012 Storyline: The Battle for Budapest

Details for the VtES storyline event for the upcoming EC 2012 have been released. The storyline event is named “The Battle for Budapest” and is about the vacant title of Budapest, the host city of this year’s EC. The difference between this and previous storyline events is, that this time there’s no tournament(s) for the storyline. The result of the event is determined by the outcome of casual games played during the VtES EC 2012. The only requirement for these casual games, is that the decks used in these games must be storyline legal, i.e. that 75% of the vampires in the crypt must belong to the same clan. In addition two cards are part of the storyline. A modified version of Bulscu can be used in any crypt and belongs (like Anarch Convert) belongs to the ANY group, that is he can be used with any other crypt cards. The second card is the Buda Castle, a unique location, representing the title of the Budapest ruler.

The complete storyline event package can be downloaded from the VTES EC 2012 website or from this link.

Storyline Introduction & EC 2012

As released yesterday, some information on the immediate future of the VtES Storyline Events

Some of you may already know me for my work in supporting the play of VTES in the UK, or from my attendance at international VEKN events. Some of you may also know of my past work for White Wolf in designing the Vampire: Prince of the City board game.

What is much less well known is that I have been a Storyteller of Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop games since 1991 when the first edition of the game was published. I own pretty much every single original Vampire book (along with many other White Wolf books) and I have regularly enjoyed roleplaying in the World of Darkness over the last 21 years.

On the subject of common knowledge it’s also now a pretty open secret that I have been helping Ben Peal with the design of the VEKN’s first official card set. In fact it is this work which led to the invitation by Johannes and the IC to take a more active role in the Storyline side of things.

In regards to the organisation of Storyline VTES events after some discussion we have decided to change things up a little bit. We know that there are a lot of players out there who would like the opportunity to influence the story associated with the game, but they can’t necessarily get enough people together for a proper multi-round tournament.

We have therefore proposed a new way for handling Storyline: single pickup games which can be played by any group of any size any number of times. As long as every deck used is Storyline legal (in the established fashion) and the results of the game are submitted using the appropriate form then they will be included in the final tally.

The results will be used to plot the course of future Storyline games, cards and short stories. In fact, with the advent of the Onyx Path there may even be an opportunity to work closely again with the guys behind the RPG and cross over between the two games once more.

We plan to use the European Championship in Budapest as the first opportunity to try this new format out. Any pickup VTES games played by anyone with Storyline legal decks during the week of the event will be eligible for inclusion. We’ll conjure up a little fiction for people to read and hand out forms and cards for people to use.

If it works out well the we hope to present similar limited, geographically themed games at other national and international events in the future.

I hope you enjoy it – and see you in Budapest!

Mike Nudd
Storyline Coordinator