The Red Sign

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

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