Subject: [newsletter] Caitiff "Sign O' the End Times" Newsletter Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2004 21:33:09 -0700 Message-ID: Official V:EKN Caitiff "Sign O' the End Times" Newsletter July 2004 Official V:EKN Caitiff Newsletter - July 2004 Contents - Life in the City (Vampire fiction) - Um, I dunno. What d'ya wanna do? (Clan Strategy) - ...and the Kitchen Sink too! (Discipline overviews) - Pick Me! PICK ME! (Card overviews a. crypt b. library) - Smack Talk (Reader feedback) - Dear Azel (Advice column) - Ante up, Sucka (Deck designs) - Peace Out (Conclusion) Life in the City Navar's Musings by John Rayburn He gently stroked the pigeon's back unconsciously while letting his gaze travel aimlessly upon the city he called home. A sense of peace, a coming to terms with his lot in life among greater forces if you will, settled over him. Sure he was moderately successful in regular human terms - a businessman, profitable enough to endulge in a comfortable lifestyle that left more than one envious eye upon him. And yet... but it doesn't matter. These things happen they say. And they have said a lot of things to him, haven't they. "Navar. We will be late for the party. You know we have pulled some strings to keep you included. You don't want to seem dismissive now, do you? Please, for this, keep your fashionably late sensibilities constrained." "Hmm? ... Oh, mmhmm. I will be there in a moment. I must secure my aviary." "Honestly, sometimes I don't understand why you while away your time with those creatures. It is not like you can enjoy squab as before - " Navar ambles out of earshot to the coop and tenderly places 'Camille' back with her flock. Heh, before he could keep up with the rapid pace of normal conversational banter. But he has since found those who have raised the 'art' of idle chatter to higher levels, far beyond his patience he found. A lingering puase before the shut aviary, savoring the silence, Navar counts until the tension for the necessary reply becomes overwhelming and returns to his date. He realizes how much more he enjoyed the simpler company of humans. Now, with his new lifestyle, he finds himself restricted more to the animals that surround his new world. "Ms. Easton, ready and at your service," as he walks toward her he crooks his arm precisely at the moment of passing of her, "Shall we?" " - and they leave such a terrible mess everywhere, too. Don't they?" she threads her arm through and walks in tandem. "Yes, indeed they do," as we all do, but seldom admit it, he thought to himself. "Most unpleasant... But let us be on our way then. I hear this will be an interesting night; unexpected visitors should be making their rounds tonight." "Mmm? Any hints? Another delightful guessing game, Delilah?" A wry smile draws across her face, unseen by Navar who is facing the door they are approaching. "Well, I'll give you a start. There will be a contingent of Gangrel present. Unusual, no? In fact there will be a Ms. Devereaux, who has been said not to have been around this city in quite a few years. A regular before, I heard, but then one time she just changed address and has not been back. Most curious." Devereaux? Navar, without thinking, turns his head sharply to face Delilah. A play of various emotions dances upon his eyes before he could mask them. "My dear, you were quite right about giving me a start." Unfortunately he was hit by a scintillating smile and started to melt into a warm cuddle space in that smile. He really hated these games, but Delilah has been trying so hard to win him over with kindness, access, and maybe a touch of love. He found that he could acquiesce for the time being. "Your eyes are telling, but of what I don't know right now. No matter, I want to hear all about it another time then. Come, let us go." she said. Go? Go. Yes, go. He likes how things have settled, but now he was starting to get anxiety of how things will move from here. From a cozy cage to where? Only one way to find out - and that was to go, lest he be late... Um, I dunno. What d'ya wanna do? JesusMaryandJoseph!!! Our very own Prince!? You mean we don't have to go out there and Praxis Seize like we used to? And he has capacity enough to contest for longer than a turn or two!? Oh how this has changed our standing dramatically. Before, we were a big reason that vote pushing was neutered, Praxis Seizing and KRCing everything in our path with our waves of actions and expendability. Now things have been moderated for the better (it was a bit excessive to be honest, even if we were pushing everyone around). But we lost some voting power in these modern nights. But now we get our very own prince!! We aren't blatant puppets, one of our own looks to have earned his title! Hurray! So now all those political decks that were retired now have a chance to come back out and try again! And some group 3/4 vampires look to have some serious staying power, their capacities being better than many of their predecessors. With some of the cards from previous newsletters (Paragon with a Ventrue ally, Thin-Blooded Seer - companion to Third Tradition: Progeny) along with the Traditions and we can start to see a new Renaissance of the Caitiff vote deck - but a more balanced and varied one at that. More on this to come. The other *HUGE* introduction has been Events. We now have to keep a real eye on deck construction because there's some serious wrenches out there to throw into our machinations. But then we also have access to nice wrenches to throw back. Now, I can't be sure how well this new mechanic will incorporate into the community (on a thematic level I hope it is accepted), and the effects are so large that I can't determine all the permutations these new cards will have upon our strategy. Many an excellent assessment on these cards has been already done out there, by far more skilled and experienced players, so I suggest some browsing. These are powerful tools so use them wisely. ... and the Kitchen Sink too! Oh My GOD!!! We finally got a vampire with Dominate!!! Now we have access to dominate tactics requiring one less Dominate Master! Huzzah! But serious, this is a very good thing for us Caitiff. Our group 4 pals are starting to shape up quite nicely. Many of the strategies you've been hearing about dominate recently are now open to us just a bit more - so I assume I don't need to go in detail about how to use dominate with us. This is a great start and I can't wait until our group 4 is fleshed out. Get out there and start bleedin' and bouncin'! Pick Me! PICK ME! Crypt: Afifa, The Herald Clan: Caitiff (group 4) Capacity: 1 Disciplines: dom Camarilla: When you put a Gehenna card in play, your prey burns 1 pool. If you do not put a Gehenna card in play during your discard phase, a ready vampire you control other than Afifa burns 1 blood, or you burn 1 pool. Rarity: Gehenna:U Good heavens, who else could I start out with discussing the implications of Gehenna? Not only does she have the fabled dominate, she has an events related benefit/penalty. And what a benefit/penalty at that! Hmm, and would I feel compelled *not* to play Gehenna events if I had her in my crypt? No. No, it's like a free bleed during your discard phase; who'd pass that up? And the penalty? Easy to overcome. With all the recent tech out there to gain blood, let alone all the old tech (Hunting Grounds and all), there's little reason that you'd have to burn 1 pool (lest all your other vampires are empty/torpored and you ran out of Gehenna cards - but by then I'm sure you have bigger problems). And her special works while she is in torpor too, so there is no reason to go through the extra effort to protect her. Sweet! Throw in an extra copy or two and enjoy! The big question is what events to use with her? Well, since dominate is in such high demand to splash in seemingly each and every deck it's really hard to pin down which events to focus on. She can be splashed into so many deck archetypes almost seemlessly, and since her effect kicks in even while she's in torpor, there's little to limit to her flexibility. So the question becomes why *not* play her if you are playing Gehenna events? A star in the making. Smack Talk I have taken up the mantle of Pander newsletter as well. I will simulate a mild rivalry with Caitiff and Pander for aesthetic reason. Hopefully you will enjoy it, if for at least the schizophrenic self-arguing nature of the whole thing. : ) Heh, we'll see how wild and autonomous these personalities will become! Dear Azel Well, I really enjoyed the art of Afifa, and it seems several others in the community did too. There was some interest in the background story of this piece, and being a curious sort I decided to do some detective work. Well, I found the site for the new V:tES artist, Albrecht. And then I took the opportunity to ask questions about this piece. Unfortunately I have been inable to get in contact after a month of trying and I decided enough time has passed, I could delay this newsletter no longer. Alas, she might have been on vacation the whole time. Perhaps others in the community might have better luck. So without further ado Albrecht's website http://www.albrecht-illo.com I find the angelic/demonic inspired work particularly interesting and invite the community to peruse her portfolio. Be kind and graciously welcome a new contributor to our game's rich creativity. Ante Up, Sucka No deck this month. Peace Out Hope you have enjoyed this newsletter. I had higher hopes for it, but unfortunately things did not pan out as planned. C'est la vie. Soon I will be cramming 1/2 year of a foreign language class into one month, this coming month. So I will be most definitely brain fried, I make no promises for August. Caine-willing, I will be able to get one out for next month. I am starting to churn out a quarterly than a monthly it seems, but it is all working out alright. I hope everyone is enjoying what is normally a pretty hard topic to stretch - us weenies being so useful and yet so easy to use. If you have anything to share with the community please drop me a note like so many others have (Thank you those who have, by the way. Keep in touch!). Reach me at opaopajr@comcast.net