Malkazine #10 (VEKN Malkavian Newsletter November 2003)

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1. Introduction
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First, I want to say I'm glad I got this Newsletter out, what with all
the hustle and bustle of this time of year.  As busy as I have been, I
haven't had much time for the Black Hand, though I did manage to
squeeze a review of the Malkavian Antitribu starter.

Second, if you would like to read this newsletter in its HTML version,
drop by:

http://www.geocities.com/the_timmy001/vtes/newsletters/malkazine10.html

Thirdly, enjoy the Newsletter!

-t!MmY, editor and mad inker.

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2. Fiction (or is it?)
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The brakes were applied harshly and the car came to a sudden, rude
halt.  They had stopped at a large garage door, which, apparently, led
to some car mechanic shop.  In a matter of seconds, four rebellious
looking men stepped out of the shadows.  Although they held no
firearms openly, you could tell they were far from unarmed.

Demetrious pushed the power window switch and his window slid down
with a mechanical whir.  To the men, he held out an open hand, then he
pulled his thumb in toward his palm before performing some complicated
signal.  The men returned to their shadows.  There was a shudder and a
rumble as the heavy garage door was rolled open.

The car was driven down the incline that served as a driveway into the
mechanic shop.  He pulled around to an empty spot and killed the
engine.

"Get out," Robert said.  Not even Todd gave protest; the air was heavy
with some sort of anticipation mingled with dread and excitement. 
Brian pulled Waldo out with him.  Only Waldo seemed oblivious of the
danger the three were in.

As he stood there, Brian looked around quickly counting the number of
people in the room.  Should they have to fight their way out, they
would be out-numbered approximately ten-to-one.

"Are they clean?" a man asked Robert, coming up to the group, a very
large gun held at the ready.  He had the same aire of rebellion about
him as even the most unkempt of the others could muster, yet had a
powerful and confident look in his eyes.

"Pretty much.  This one has a rather weak pistol."

"Please hand Mr. Antonaros your firearm," the man jerked his gun
toward Demetrious.  Todd narrowed his eyes, and reached into his
jacket.  "Slowly, please."

With loath action, Todd handed the pistol to Demetrious, butt-end
first.  At that, the man holding them at gunpoint set his safety with
a click and returned his gun to his shoulder holster.  "Thank you, I
find business to go much more smoothly when guns aren't an issue. 
Wouldn't you agree?"  The three captives remained silent.

"Please, step into my office and there I shall hope to set you at
ease.  Robert, please stay outside."

Robert cracked his knuckles loudly, but mumbled acquiescence.

Inside the office, the man sat at a desk scattered with papers. 
"Please, sit."  The three stood still, like deer caught in bright
headlights.  "Sit," he said once more, this time with a deadly edge to
his voice.  They sat, though not comfortably.

"First, I must introduce myself as Victor.  I run the operations in
this district and, to be blunt, I despise Camarilla scum.  There would
be nothing to please me more than to reach over and tear out your
jugulars with my own fangs.  However, there are business dealings to
take into consideration, and, as I always say, 'Business over
pleasure,' as the case may be.

"Let's begin by getting a few things out of the way.  You're obviously
confused at this point - reasonably so after being hunted down by
those damned Demon Rats.  I can see it in your eyes, you want to know
why I've brought you here and what I want with you, who I am and why I
haven't torn out your jugulars.

"I'm afraid I work in a confidential line of work and won't be able to
answer all of your questions as completely as you want, but what I can
do is answer most of your questions part way."

"That's a good start," Brian muttered.  "Begin with why we're here. 
It's obviously not for the magazine we have, you could have taken that
from us, dead or alive."

"Very logical of you to assume so, however wrong it is."

"Come again?"  Todd asked.

"The very reason why you're still alive is because of the magazine. 
Please, lay it out on the desk and I'll explain in further detail. 
Excuse me for the mess, this is only a temporary office for the
evening and not my own."  Victor pushed a spot clean with one
disgusted sweep of his arm.  The papers fluttered to the floor beside
the desk in not too much disorder from where they began.  Brian took
out the magazine and placed it on the desk and opened it to the last
page with the foldable illustration.

"Take a look at that writing," Victor said.

"Looks like scribbles or doodles," Todd commented.

"We figured it was some sort of encryption," Brian said, "but most of
the time it doesn't even look like writing at all."

"In one way you're correct," Victor said, "in another, you're even
more correct.  It is incomprehensible gibberish, not an encryption at
all.  There is no way to decipher it."

"So, what's that got to do with us?"  Brian asked, but Waldo broke
into the conversation.  He had been looking at the scribbles and
folded the illustration together.

Waldo then recited:

To those of the Blood of Caine, this message is written: The Trumpets
are blowing, the Goblets have been poured, and the Seals have been
broken.  The Masquerade has been breached and The Awakening will soon
begin.

"What's he doing?" Todd asked.

"He's reading that gibberish?  I thought you said it couldn't be
deciphered?"

"It can not," Victor said.  "He is translating it.  Those words were
written by the lineage of Malcav, written with the madman's quill. 
Only those who see with the eyes of chaos can comprehend it.  I have
spared your lives because I wish to make a deal with you.  Translate
this message for me and you will be free to go and I will help you
destroy the Demon Rats."

"Agreed," Brian said at once.  Freedom from anarchs was more than a
good deal; having them fight the Demon Rats was more than a bargain. 
The anarchs must have been having problems with that pack for a while
now to want to help dispatch them.  Still, if Brian could benefit from
fighting a mutual enemy, so much the better.

"Excellent.  The deal will be executed by sundown tomorrow.  Which
means, I'm afraid, you will be treated as seen fit for Camarilla scum
until then."

"What?" Brian asked, but it didn't do any good, Victor had raised a
hand and given a signal to those outside the office.  Demetrious,
Robert, and four other anarchs came in and grabbed the three Camarilla
roughly.

"Not the little one, he and the magazine stay here," Victor said.

"Wait a minute, what's going on?" Todd demanded.  Victor astutely
ignored the question as his underlings dragged Brian and Todd away.

They were muscled over to a large, metal cabinet and thrown in.

"You aren't going to lock us in here!"

"Quit complaining," one of the grunts said, "most of those we throw in
here don't come out the next day, if you get the hint."  Then the
doors were shut.  From the inside, only small amounts of light leaked
through between the metal doors.  There was the sound of heavy chains
shackling the doors closed for a long while.  Then the light was
blocked out by what sounded like duct tape.

"Things could be worse," Brian said.

"There's no TV, things can't get much worse than that."

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3. V:TES Stuff
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Yes, the Black Hand expansion has arrived, and with it a Malkavian
Antitribu starter!  What kind of Malkavian Newsletter would this be if
I didn't at least acknowledge our little Sabbat friends?  I'll go over
the contents of the starter and give my own personal opinions.

You can see the list of cards for the Malkavian Antitribu starter at
The Lasombra's website:
http://www.thelasombra.com/decks/malkavian_antitribu_precon.txt

We see some old faces coming back, Artemis, Boy Toy, Dolphin Black,
General Perfidio Dios, Hannibal, Imogen, Kite, Korah, and Virgil. 
However, it is my personal opinion that a good number of these
vampires are not all that great (Hannibal, Imogen, and Virgil).  On
the other hand, most of the reprinted vampires are very nice to have
(Artemis, Dolphin Black, Kite, and Korah).  I'm not too sure why
General Perfidio Dios was reprinted so soon from his debut with the
Anarchs expansion in place of Quira.

I must make a note that Imogen is erroneously reprinted as an 8 cap in
this expansion and is still officially recognized as 9 capacity. 
Phooey.

The new guys in this starter are: Aristotle de Laurent, The Colonel,
and Roger Fransworth.  Aristotle is, in contrast to Imogen, what one
should expect from investing 9 pool into a vampire - all Clan
disciplines at superior with some added angles that the [PRE] & [pot]
give him, not to mention the permanent +1 Stealth.

All I have to say about The Colonel and Roger Fransworth would be that
they would be the token small and mid-capacity vampires.  However!
You'll note that these vampires are Black Hand right from the
beginning!  This right here says a lot about the Black Hand expansion.
 One of my main complaints about the Anarch expansion was the lack of
pre-made anarch vampires.  Even if each Clan was given one pre-made
anarach in that expansion, things would have been better.  For The
Black Hand, we already have two Black Hand members right out of the
box!

The choice of Masters seemed reasonable for the preconstructed.  I am
especially fond of the Dominions and I love the 2 Malkavian Games
added!  I'm not too sure about the Guru and Communal Haven: Temple;
aren't there more useful cards out there that could have taken these
slots?  With only 10 Master cards, it may seem a little light in that
area.

For an overview of the minion cards, it looks to be a bleeder but with
political thrown in.  All I have to say is that more Telepathic Vote
Counting would have been very welcomed.  As it is, the only votes
you'll be able to rely on are whatever titled vampires you happen to
bring into play and, possibly, The Edge (and, of course, the initial
Political Action for a vote).  There's just one Crusade in the deck,
so if you're hurting for votes, hope you also happen upon your one
Telepathic Vote Counting when trying to pass it.

The combat sucks.  Yes, there are 3 Comas in the deck that can strike
fear into your opponents, but a more solid combat base to draw on in
times of need would be more practical.  Swallowed by the Night and
Deny would have been great in quantities of at least 4 each.  This
would have provided the stealth this deck seems to crave and yet give
some combat defense to work with, too.  Then again, I like combat; the
idea behind this deck probably was not very combat orientated.  As a
long-time Malkavian player, I do like the 3 Comas to add to my
collection.  :)

All in all, a nice deck.  Though it usually requires some smooth
talking to keep all the other preconstructed Clan decks from attacking
you and beating you senseless in combat.

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4. Et Cetera & So Forth
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Last month I asked what players would think of if the effects of
"Strike: Combat Ends" took effect during the Strike Resolution
segment, allowing damage and effects to take place before combat
ended.  The exact results I won't bother telling.  However, it seemed
that many people felt this would weaken S:CE too drastically.  O_o

New Krazy Malk Poll: "What if?"
What if First Strike really, truly, actually resolved first?  Yes,
this means before any non-First Strike could resolve all First Strikes
are resolved first.
a) "That would make First Strike worth the blood and card slots"
b) "That would make First Strike too powerful"
c) "That wouldn't make any difference"
d) "That would make First Strike too powerful unless defensive First
Strikes became more common" (i.e. S:CE at First Strike and Dodge at
First Strike).
e) Other (fill-in-the-blank)

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5. To Be Continued
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Okay, that's it for this month!  Make sure to give me lotsa feedback
on this Newsletter!

Send any comments, questions, articles, salacious offerings, humorous
anecdotes, deck ideas, and/or practical sandwiches to:
Timmy@e-garfield.com

-t!MmY, the mad !nker

This newsletter was written by a fictitious person in a fictitious
plane of existence.  Any resemblance to any real persons or planes of
existences is coincidental and utterly impossible.  This newsletter
may be archived, transmitted, stored, eaten, or copied in any way you
wish as long as it is kept in its entirety.  Translations into
"madman's quill" available at your local Madness Network.