V:EKN Clan Brujah Newsletter, April 1998



Volume 1, Issue 1.  Legal shite:  All contents copyright 1998

Alexander Austin.  All rights reserved.  Reproduction of some or all

of the following is permitted for personal use, review purposes, or to

reply to this post; all other reproduction of the writing contained

herein is forbidden without the permission of the author.  Pretty much

all of the technical terms I use herein are copyright White Wolf or

Wizards of the Coast, and are used with WotC's permission.  This

document can also be found on the web at:

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/2147/jyhad.html 



Table of contents:



1. Ranting (The Methuselah's soapbox.)- How I'm going to run the

newsletter: Submission guidelines.

2. Background- What it means to be Brujah.

3. Commentary- General discussion on what Brujah decks are capable of

doing and not doing (in general.)  A short discussion of intimidation

as a tool is included.

4. Deck outlines- General principles for constructing 3 more standard

Brujah decks.

5. Valuing Vampires- An overview of the point system, and examples of

how it can be used to evaluate the utility of vampires.

6. Dismember thy Neighbor- A sample Brujah/Brujah-antitribu deck of

some note.

7. Final words- A conclusion to the newsletter.



Rantings (or, The Methuselah's Soapbox):



        This is the section of the newsletter where I get to rant,

should I have the occasion.  This issue, I'm just going to use it to

say a couple of things about how I'm going to be running this

newsletter.

        I welcome submissions of decks and relevant articles (relevant

meaning interesting).  I won't accept stories, unless they are

extremely well written.  I will accept opinion pieces, if anyone wants

to submit them, and if they're accepted, they will be published in

this section of the newsletter.  All submissions may be refused

without explaination, although I'll usually give you one if you ask

for it.  I also reserve the right to edit submissions before

publication, although I will send you a copy of the edited version

before I publish it to give you a chance to tell me if you're willing

to have it published with your name next to it (this only applies if

changes were made in the content of the article).

        I welcome comments and requests of all kinds.  Want a

particular kind of article?  Feel free to ask for it.  Interested in

learning more about the clan's history?  Tell me.  I'll try to provide

whatever kind of content readers ask for, as long as it's appropriate.

Mail all feedback to malevolence@rocketmail.com .

        I'd also like to ask anyone who plays Jyhad in Portland,

Oregon and the surrounding area to get in touch with me.  I haven't

played with a regular playgroup for almost 6 months, and it's really

getting to me.

        And now, on with the show.

        -Alec Austin



What it means to be Brujah-



        The Brujah are rebels.  The younger members of the clan

struggle to outdo each other in how ridiculous and absurd they can

look in "challenging conformity".  The elder members of the clan,

ensconced in their positions of power, use their influence against

those clans of the Camarilla which maintain the status quo- the

Ventrue and the Tremere.  They are violent, confused, angry, and

uncontrollable.

        Such an understanding of the Brujah is too simplistic.  For

all their ranting and violence and rebellion, the Brujah have a reason

to be angry, a reason to be rebellious.  There is a reason why a

white-haired scholar embraced five hundred years back can be as filled

with hatred and bitterness as the newest Anarch.

        For the Brujah had Carthage.  The Brujah had a living dream, a

city in which they and other Kindred could coexist in harmony and

cooperation with the Kine.  The Brujah had Paradise.  And then the

Ventrue came with their armies and took it away.

        This is what the Brujah tell each other in secret on the long

nights.  This is why the elders of the Brujah clan are just as

dangerous in their tempers as their great great grandchilder, if not

more so.  The Brujah remember Carthage, if all the other clans do not.

The Brujah remember the parts that the Ventrue, the Malkavians, the

Toreador, and even the Lasombra took in directing Rome towards the

destruction of their city of earthly peace.

        Imagine that everything you hoped for, everything you had ever

dreamed of, had been made real.  Then imagine that your dreams were

attacked, conquered, broken and raped, with even the ground where they

had stood plowed with salt so that nothing could ever grow there

again.  Remember that feeling when you next stare into the eyes of a

Brujah.

        And then magnify the fury, the pain, and the outrage that you

imagine a thousand times.  Only then will you begin to understand what

the Brujah feel.



A few basic deckbuilding comments-



        This section of the newsletter will provide guidelines for

thinking about Brujah decks and what they can be reasonably expected

to be able to do.  Keep in mind that these comments are meant for

general play in a large pool of decks; just because your playgroup

plays so little stealth that the little intercept that the Brujah can

muster is often enough does not mean that your Brujah deck is an

effective intercept deck in general.  The quirks of individual

playcircles can severely skew a player's understanding of the

abilities of clans and types of decks.  With that caveat, let's

proceed.



Brujah Specialities-



Combat: This is fairly obvious.  The combination of Potence and

Celerity is ideal for being able to beat the hell out of other

vampires.  Whether the beating is done through close-in, immortally

grappled potence strikes, or through long range throwing of gates,

sewer lids, and cars, the Brujah excel at it, and can deliver multiple

damaging strikes to their opponent in a single round.  



Voting: The Brujah have the two smallest capacity "natural" princes in

the game.  This can give them a great advantage in the early game,

where they can dominate politically, and where they can lay the

foundation for game-long political domination.  Their possession of

Presence as a Clan discipline also supports their political prowess.

Areas of Brujah Incompetence-



Intercept: The Brujah are one of the worst clans in the game at

intercepting the actions of other kindred.  They have no disciplines

which can provide intercept; they have less princes than both the

Toreador and the Ventrue, and so are hindered in their use of the 2nd

tradition; and their access to sport bikes, Mr. Winthrop, and

atonement is the same as that of other clans.  As such, unless light

intercept is a must in a playcircle for some reason or other, Brujah

should not attempt to focus on intercept.



Stealth: Like with intercept, the Brujah have no real affinity for

stealth.  They have only one action modifier available to them in

their clan disciplines which grants them stealth (Alacrity) and it

costs twice as much blood as any other stealth card does, for the

minimal benefit of +1 stealth.  Likewise, all the other means of

acquiring stealth, such as Marijava ghouls and the like, which are

available to the Brujah are just as available to the other clans.

Furthermore, Brujah should not need additional stealth.  Any Brujah

deck which finds itself consistently in need of stealth for its

actions to succeed has something else wrong with it in addition to a

lack of stealth.



Brujah Strategies- Intimidation:  Without stealth to make their

actions unblocked, the Brujah clearly need to find another tool with

which to ensure those of their actions which need to be unblocked

remain so.  For the Brujah, this tool is intimidation.  Intimidation,

although it may seem straightforward, is difficult to master.  It is

one thing to pound your opponent's vampires into torpor whenever they

block your actions.  It is quite another to be able to convince your

opponent not to block your actions out of fear of the consequences.

In addtion, intimidation operates on different principles when one is

playing in a generally unchanging, small circle of players than when

one is playing in a tournament or constantly changing enviroment.  In

the smaller circle, it is possible for other players to learn to fear

a deck through repeated exposure to it in multiple games.  As long as

the deck is superior in combat and torporizes blockers and those

vampires whose controllers have displeased you without taking heavy

losses, the other members of your playgroup will come to fear blocking

the actions you take with that deck because of the potential

consequences.

        In a situation like that of a tournament, things are not so

easy.  In such a game, an example of your combat prowess must be made

early on for your prey to perceive your deck's combat abilities as a

potential threat.  If such an example cannot be made, then

consistently batter any attempts to interfere with your actions until

other players realize that blocking your actions is more expensive to

them than suffering their effects.

        The key to successful intimidation is to never let your front

of invulnerability slip.  Even if you lose a fight for some reason, or

if the results of a combat fall short of what you desired, let no sign

of this show in your behavior.  Act as if everything is going your

way, and happily do as much damage as you can to other players'

minions while preserving your own.  After you beat several of their

vampires to the brink of torpor, or actually succeed in torporizing

them, seemingly without regard to the price you pay,even a hardened

player will likely be unwilling to risk any more of their minions by

blocking your actions.

        

Deck outlines: Brujah Rush, Brujah Pitch, and Brujah Titled Vote.

In this section of the newsletter, I will outline in somewhat vague

terms how one should construct three fairly standard Brujah decks.

Some of these decks will be easier to construct than others, due to

the availability of certain cards key to the decks' effectiveness; as

such, rarer cards will be noted as such in the deck's description.



Brujah Rush-



Deck Concept: Bum's Rush or otherwise attack other vampires.  Beat

them into torpor at close range with multiple damaging hand strikes.

Repeat ad nauseam or until there are no longer any threatening

vampires left.

Key Disciplines: Potence, Celerity.  Potence and Celerity are about

equal in their importance here.

Suggested Vampires: (in clan) Dre; Yuri the Talon; Bianca; Anvil;

Volker.  (out of clan-Sabbat) Jacob Bragg; Richter; Beast.

Key Library cards: Bum's Rush/Ambush, Haven Uncovered, Torn Signpost,

Undead Strength/Pushing the Limit, Immortal Grapple (rarer), Blur,

Acrobatics, Flash, Pursuit, Sideslip, Taste of Vitae, Hunting grounds.

Helpful Library cards: Disarm(rarer), Decapitate(rarer), Psyche,

Depravity, Bloodhunt, Rampage, Blood Doll, Giant's Blood(Rarer), The

Barrens.

Comments: Brujah Rush decks have only one defense- a strong offense.

Therefore, it is often necessary to use your vampires to attack those

vampires of your predator who pose a threat to you, in addition to

beating on your prey's minions.  Remember, he who hesitates is lost.

Strike first, strike hard, and don't take chances if you can help it.

If an opposing vampire must go to torpor, Immortal grapple them and do

your worst.

Weaknesses: Your are vulnerable to both bleed decks and vote decks.

You cannot block actions.  Don't even try.  Instead, kill the vampires

who pose you the greatest threat first, be they your predator's or

your prey's.  You also cannot vote or bleed very well.  Try to include

as many vampires who have innate votes or bleed as possible, to help

deal with this problem.



Brujah Pitch-

Deck Concept: Enter into combat with other vampires at long range, and

use cards like thrown sewer lid and celerity additional strikes to

torporize them without undue loss of blood.

Key Disciplines: Potence and Celerity.  Celerity is more important,

although basic potence is necessary in almost all vampires in the

crypt.

Suggested Vampires: (in clan)Lupo; Dre; Anvil; Bianca; Volker; Rake.

(out of clan-Sabbat) Jacob Bragg; Sarah Brando; Sela.

Key Library Cards: Bum's Rush/Ambush, Haven Uncovered, Pursuit, Thrown

gate, Thrown Sewer Lid, Acrobatics, Blur, Psyche, Increased strength,

Flash, Hunting grounds, IR Goggles.

Helpful Library Cards: Hand of Conrad (rarer), Sacrament of Carnage,

Fake out, Blood Doll, Taste of Vitae.

Comments: Brujah Pitch generally takes much less damage than Brujah

Rush; however, it cannot get around Strike: Combat ends cards as

easily.  This is especially damaging, as often the deck will use two

cards (to attack a vampire and then maneuver to long range) to the

other player's one.  For this reason, Psyche is an especially vital

card in this deck, as it is the deck's only defense against S:CE.  All

of the other comments made about Brujah rush also apply to Brujah

Pitch, with the exception of the comments regarding Immortal Grapple.

Weaknesses: See Brujah Rush.



Brujah Titled Vote-

Deck Concept: Gain early political dominance by bringing out

inexpensive princes and calling praxis seizures.  Maintain political

dominance by toporizing and otherwise destroying other titled

vampires, and gain pool from their destruction.

Key Disciplines: Presence, Potence, and Celerity.  The balance here is

difficult to determine and pin down, but Potence and Celerity

generally take precendence over Presence.

Suggested Vampires: (in clan) Volker, Rake*, Donal O'Connor, Anvil*,

Bianca, Yuri the Talon, Uma Hatch, Dre.  (out of clan) Sela.  

*: Playing with more than one copy recommended.

Key Library Cards: Brujah Justicar(rarer), Praxis Seizures, Bewitching

Oration, Archon, Anathema(rarer), Bum's Rush, Pursuit, Immortal

Grapple (rarer), Blur, Torn Signpost, Undead strength, the Barrens,

5th Tradition: Hospitality.

Helpful Library Cards: Sideslip, Haven Uncovered, Blood Doll, Hunting

Grounds, Minion Tap, Burning Wrath, Amaranth, Taste of Vitae, Giant's

Blood (rarer)

Comments: Brujah Titled Vote as described above is a vote/combat deck

bent on burning and Diablerie.  Brujah Titled Vote can also take any

of many other viable voting strategies, with considerably less

emphasis on combat (run-away combat takes many less cards, after all).

If another form of Brujah Titled Vote is to be played, however, it

should have good offensive votes to drain targets of pool, and with

which to refresh it's own pool supply, as the defenses which the

combination of Rush combat and Voting provides will be missing.

Weaknesses: Brujah Titled Vote as described must balance itself

between being able to keep a majority of votes on the table and being

able to fight effectively.  This balance is easy to upset, especially

if the deck becomes hand-jammed.  Never be afraid to discard to get to

the cards you need.  Timing is also vital in playing this deck, as a

mis-timed move in politics or in combat could lead to the deck's

inability to finish what it started.



Valuing Vampires: An overview of the point system.



Most of the vampires who were in the basic Jyhad set were constructed

according to certain creation guidelines.  Those Jyhad players who

figured out the guidelines dubbed them the "point system", as various

disciplines, abilities, and titles all seemed to have point values

associated with them that added up to a number approximately equal to

the capacity of the vampire possessing them.

        Understanding the point system allows you to distinguish

underpowered vampires from overpowered ones.  This can be important

when looking to find unbalanced vampires, and for helping determine if

a vampire's abilities make them worth including in a deck.  (Usually,

a deck will use only a half to two thirds of a large vampire's

points.)



Determining how many points a vampire should have:



Take the value of the vampire's capacity.  

Add 1 if the vampire is over 8 capacity.  

Subtract 1 if the vampire is under 5 capacity.

The result is the "point" value which the vampire's abilities,

disciplines, titles and drawbacks should add up to.

Values of Abilities:

A superior discipline is worth 2 points.

An normal discipline is worth 1 point.

A title is worth the number of votes it grants divided by 2.*  Thus,

Primogen is worth a half point.  (2 votes, by extension of the logic

here, is worth 1 point.)  Gangrel and Nosferatu pay half a point extra

for any titles they possess, while Ventrue above 8 capacity can be

Primogen for free if they have no other title.

+1 bleed or +1 hand damage are each worth 2 points.

+1 stealth on all actions is worth 2 points.



Special abilities or drawbacks can be assumed to be worth the amount

of points that would be required for the total cost of a vampire's

abilities to equal the expected value.  Note that this can only be

assumed in the original set, as many expansion vampires deviate from

this system's constraints.  Just as an example, however, Don Cruez's

ability to spend blood for manuevers in combat would, by the logic of

the point system, be worth a half point.  Generally, specialized or

less useful special abilities cost half a point or are free, while

useful abilites cost 1 point, and extremely powerful abilities cost

more.



An example of a vampire from the basic set who follows the point

system in his creation is Angus, the Unruled.  As a titled Gangrel, he

pays 2 points for being Justicar (1/2 + 3/2= 2).

With two superior disciplines and three normal, he pays 7 points for

disciplines, and he is rounded out with +1 hand damage for the last 2

points of his expected 11 (2 + 7 + 2 = 11).



An example of a vampire who emerges as obviously undercosted when

analyzed by this system is Caitlin.  Caitlin has 4 points in superior

disciplines, and 2 in normal ones, and a half point title.  As she is

only 5 capacity, her abilities are obviously more than should be

available to her.



This is especially true when one considers Monique, a vampire of the

same capacity and same clan as Caitlin.  Monique has 4 normal

disciplines, no title and no special abilities.  She was made with 4

points, even though she is 5 capacity.  Monique, by analysis by the

point system, is obviously overcosted and underpowered.

Using the same kind of analysis on Brujah antitribu, Rigby(6 points)

Sela (7 and 1/2 points), Richter (8 points) and Jacko (approximately 9

points) are clearly overpowered for their cost, while Dodd (4 points)

is underpowered.  It should be no surprise that Rigby, Sela, Richter

and Jacko are all flexible and can be found in numerous effective

decks, while Dodd is ignored by most players.

Now that I've given you the tools, I will leave the rest of the

process of evaluting vampires up to you.  A good sense for imbalance

and the systems outlined above should be all you need.



Sample Deck: Dismember thy Neighbor.  A Brujah/Brujah antitribu rush

monstrosity.



Crypt (12 vampires):



Dre

Anvil

Bianca

Sarah Brando

Jacob Bragg

Rigby

Sela

Richter

Jacko

Salinger

Jimmy Dunn

Beast



Library: (80 cards)



Masters:(14 cards)

Gang Territory (2)

Blood Doll (2)

Depravity

Haven Uncovered (2)

The Barrens

Giant's Blood

Legendary Vampire

Amusment Park Hunting Ground

Warzone Hunting Ground

Elder Library

Sudden Reversal

Misc Minion Cards:(17 cards)

Laptop Computer

Palatial Estate

Hand of Conrad

Pulled Fangs

Taste of Vitae (3)

Ambush (4)

Bum's Rush (6)

Potence:(29 cards)

Immortal Grapple (6)

Torn Signpost (5)

Fists of Death

Undead Strength (8)

Pushing the Limit (2)

Decapitate (3)

Disarm (3)

Death of My Conscience

Celerity:(20 cards)

Rapid Thought(2)

Sideslip (5)

Blur (5)

Pursuit (5)

Side Strike (3)



Comments:  This is a fairly standard Brujah antitribu rush deck.  The

reason that it is so heavily focused on the Antitribu is because of

the consistent superiority of certain of their vampires and because of

the existence of Gang territory.  The deck attempts to kill any

vampires in its way while maintaining its pool at as high a level as

possible.  To say anything more would be insulting to the reader's

intelligence.



Final words: This newsletter may seem excessively lengthy to some.  It

may be.  I can only say that it was going to be even longer before I

stopped myself.

        It should be noted that everything that I've said in this

newsletter applies almost equally to Brujah antitribu as it does to

the Brujah (excepting occasional references to vampires).  Decks based

around both clans can usually benefit from the inclusion of the better

of the other clans' vampires.

        I hope that the articles and deck outlines provided may prove

useful to both less experienced players and our more knowledgable

methuselahs.  Once again, if you have any suggestions or comments, let

me know.



Alec Austin, Chronicler of Clan Brujah.



Diogenes + Alec Austin + Goth Code 3.1A: GoBu3CS3Au2 

TPMJt9 PSaPr B7/22Bk!"1@ cDbr-p7 V6s M3 ZPuoGoCl 

C7o a18- n6D b55 H178 g4T0897A m4?& w6! v5DRA r4EsP      

p65487Hm D11! h5(PSaPr) sN10M SrNn kz N0196JCNWH 

RdXL LusOR7 + "A heretic is a man who sees with his own eyes."

 -Gotthold Jessing