FOLLOWERS OF SET NEWSLETTER

Volume 3, Issue 11
February 2004
Author: Andrew 'Wes' Weston

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Strategy - Dealing with incompetent players
Card Analysis - Typhonic Beast
Deck Construction - Pseudo-THA multi-task module
Contest
Sign Off

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INTRODUCTION

I've finally gotten around to writing about a subject that I have been
thinking about for months... how to deal with incompetent players. I
give credit here to the players of the JOL game Local39 who helped me
research the topic. Some of those players might even consider *me*
incompetent -- perish the thought! :)

In any case, I think there's a lot more to be said on the subject, so
expect a continuation of this topic (read: rant) in subsequent issues of
this newsletter. I'm also curious to hear of other people's experiences
with this kind of thing.

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FICTION

As much as I enjoy writing the fiction section of these newsletters,
there is simply too much meat in this current issue for me to include
any silly stories about vampires. You'll just have to wait until next
month.

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STRATEGY -- Dealing with incompetent players

"Champagne for my real friends.
Real pain for my sham friends."
   --Edward Norton in Spike Lee's "25th Hour"

We all know who they are... the players who wreck a game just by being
in it. Typically, it's not really their fault. They're learning to play
the game, don't own very many cards, or have not yet encountered certain
strategies and thus step right into what would otherwise be obvious
traps.

I've been blessed lately with a growing V:tES community here, and by all
rights I shouldn't complain. But it is hard to enjoy a game when another
player loses so badly that they effectively take you down with them.
These are the players that tap all their guys to bleed for 1, leaving
themselves open for an oust on their predator's turn. They call votes
that they cannot possibly pass. They rush cross-table for no other
reason than that they want to. The variations on this theme are endless.
We've all at one time encountered such players. Some of us have even
*been* such players.

So how do we deal with this kind of player?

The answer is simple. Manipulate the hell out of them. Convince them
that something nasty for them is actually in their own self-interest and
send them on their merry way. Don't feel bad about it. It will only
harden them in the future once they realize they've been had (if they
realize they've been had). I've managed to get my predator to rush my
prey, my enemies to help me pass my votes, etc... whatever is needed at
any given point, there is usually some way to convince someone to help
you. All it requires is dressing up your angle such that it sounds like
it helps your 'ally'. And new/incompetent players are by far the most
susceptible to such mind tricks. It's certainly a recognized aspect of
the game, so why not show them how it's done?

There have been occasions... many in fact... where I have sat down at a
tournament table to the sudden realization that my grand-prey has
absolutely no idea what she is doing. Their strategy consists of cycling
through their deck for the one copy of some power card they own just so
they can say they played it. They will often even admit as much after
the game, "Wasn't it cool how I gave my Werewolf Pack a Chainsaw and a
Sport Bike? Vrooom!".

These are the people that should by all rights be our *prey* and not our
grand-prey! Why should our prey get the easy ousts? It's simply not
fair. I can't think of a better use for cards like Dramatic Upheaval to
correct this obvious oversight.

Many people who have played with me in person have commented on how I am
able to manipulate tables into fighting my fights for me. I don't really
understand how I do it exactly, except that it does not work quite so
well in JOL. I suppose it's easier for me to bullshit in person than
over email. Maybe I have an honest face... ha! Players who have played
with me *a lot* however are fond of pointing out to the newer players my
reputation for this, to which I usually just smile, shake my head
knowingly and offer pleasing compliments to the new player ("Oooh. A
Werewolf Pack/Chainsaw/Sport Bike deck! Neat-O!"). Or, if the table-talk
starts to turn against me, I'll say something like "Don't listen to
them, my friend. You just do whatever your deck does, and I'll try to
help you whenever I can". Where everyone else is screaming "Idiot!",
I'll instead treat the idiot with respect and kindness, which is often
enough to make the idiot help me instead of the other players. Idiot!

Sometimes I can sit down at a table, glance at each of the players and
their decks and tell you right there and then who is going to win. I'm
sure many of us can do this, with enough experience playing this game.
If my predator is playing Gargoyles, for example, I can almost guarantee
that I will win that game based on that fact alone (unless they happen
to be Jared Strait), same thing if my prey is playing Baali. More often
than not, it is easy to tell who will win, not based on what decks each
person is playing, but by *who* is playing each deck. I often tease a
certain local Detroit player, saying that if he is across the table from
me, it's like having two predators (due to his annoying propensity for
cross-table rushes... at me!). Of course, this is a sign of my own
incompetence, because teasing that player is tantamount to taunting a
raging bull. But what can I say... common sense is not my forte either.

Depending on who the incompetents are, and *why* they are incompetent, I
sometimes provide helpful learning aides to persuade them see things
*my* way. If my grand-prey is more interested in hiring 12 Raptors than
in actually *winning*, I'll play a Political Flux and set X to 12. It's
surprising how much this one card changes the perspective of a newbie pl
ayer. It's like they suddenly have a revelation, "Oh yeah, I need to
oust my prey!". Of course, this is not always an option.

Sometimes though, you have to just reach over and play the other
player's game for them. Show them what needs to be done at that
particular table. Of course, that usually means helping *me*, but they
don't have to know that. At the same time, they are getting other
'helpful' suggestions from elsewhere on the table, usually to the tune
of  "Bah! Don't listen to Wes... he's lying like he always does". To
which I will act dejected and sulk for a few minutes, thus proving that
pity and compassion often work better with certain incompetents than
would an aggressively authoritarian posture. Each incompetent has their
own  'button' to be pushed, and it is your job as manipulator to figure
out what that button is. And then push that button like your pool
depended on it! It does!

Truly, sometimes this game often eschews the predator-prey mechanic
altogether for some kind of social darwinism. But I enjoy that aspect of
the game when it comes down to it...

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CARD ANALYSIS -- Typhonic Beast

Typhonic Beast
Combat
1 blood
Common
Only usable before range is determined.
[ser] For the remainder of combat, this vampire gets +1 strength.
[pot + ser] As above, and this vampire can prevent 1 damage each round.
[POT + SER] As above, and this vamipre gets an optional press this
round.

Our Dark Lord Sutekh was known during his reign as a powerful hunter and
warrior. You wouldn't really know it though, by looking at many of his
followers in these Final Nights.

No, it is true that the Followers of Set are often seen as a weak clan
where combat is concerned, and for the most part this has been true. We
excel at votes and bleeds and various "steal minion" strategies, but
combat has mostly been our weakness rather than our strength. This may
be true for the CCG but it is not so for the RPG, where Serpentis is on
par with Protean in terms of martial prowess. With the new Black Hand
card Typhonic Beast, we now have a combat option worthy of true warriors
of Set.

And is there any player who does not currently have a deck based around
this card? It seems everyone is playing it (even though Consignment of
Duat is stronger, in this editor's humble opinion). Yes, in a bizarre
reversal of roles, Setites are tearing arms off of vampires worldwide in
these Final Nights of Gehenna. Who woulda thunk it?


At first glance, this card is very similar to Skin of the Adder. Both
cards increase strength by 1 and decrease damage by 1. It is interesting
to note that the order of these abilities is reversed on each card. So
if you were to play Skin of the Adder at [ser] and Typhonic Beast at
[ser], it would be the equivalent of playing either card at the second
level (ie both prevent and +1 strength). Of course, this would also cost
an exorbitant 2 blood which means it would probably not be worth it
without a Path of Typhon in play.

Where Typhonic Beast stands out is that it is stackable. You could play
multiple Typhonic Beasts in one round, giving yourself plenty of
strength and enough damage prevention to survive almost any combat
unscathed. And this from a clan that is usually considered fragile. If
you are stacking them, you will want one of two cards in play... Path of
Typhon and/or the Eye of Hazimel. The Path of Typhon will make each
Typhonic Beast (and Skin of the Adder) free, which will make a huge
difference. After all, what's the point of preventing 3 damage if you
are paying 3 blood to do it? Similarly, the Eye of Hazimel lets your
vampire pay 1 less for
combat cards, and also gives that vampire [POT] which will then let us
play Typhonic Beast at superior. The +1 strength and ability to rush
will also complement Typhonic Beast nicely.

One problem that stands out with Typhonic Beast is that no vampires are
currently able to play the card without being given [POT]. At the [pot +
ser] level, however, a total of 11 vampires can play Typhonic Beast,
including our most recent addition Ezekiel. Ironically, Sutekh himself
(blessed be His name) can also play Typhonic Beast, which is likely to
surprise anyone who decides that he looks crunchy in milk (typical
Detroit smack-talk). The hunted becomes the hunter!

The third level of Typhonic Beast stands out with its press, but this is
not essential in most combats. Presses are useless more often than not;
the payload of most effective combats occurs in the first round. In any
case, if you know your opponent will not be ending combat somehow, you
could play Typhonic Beast during the first round, and then press for
additional rounds, increasing your strength geometrically each round
while giving yourself successive presses, until your opponent's vampire
is finally torpored. Most players will probably opt instead with playing
Immortal Grapple, which itself includes a press at superior.

I would advise prospective Typhonic Beast players to opt for the
following combo: Typhonic Beast + Immortal Grapple + Disarm. That's a
pretty effective combat right there, and usually enough to put your
opponent into the ground. Followed by a diablerie by Samat or Amam and
you just ruined that player's day. Serves him right for burning Sutekh
with Protect Thine Own the turn before *sigh*.

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DECK CONSTRUCTION -- Pseudo-THA multi-task module

The intention of this 15-card module is to provide a string of vampires
with the permanent ability of Rutor's Hand without taking away from the
focus of the deck itself. What we want to be able to do is give each
vampire superior Thaumaturgy *temporarily*, have them play Rutor's Hand,
and then take advantage of the additional two actions from that point
on. This strategy is not meant to be super fast. It is meant to give a
significant advantage in the mid-to-endgame, effectively doubling the
actions we can take with all of our vampires.

A typical setup using this module will go something like this:

1) Vampire A plays Vast Wealth (or better equip option) to search for
the Veneficorum Artum Sanguis, giving that vampire [THA].
2) Vampire A plays Rutor's Hand.
3) Vampire B takes Veneficorum Artum Sanguis from Vampire A (or transfer
using Heidelberg/Rave).
4) Vampire B plays Rutor's Hand.
5) Rinse and repeat

If all goes as planned, we now have a *lot* of actions available to us.
What you do with all of those extra actions will obviously depend on the
*non-module* part of the deck. I'll leave it up to you to build that
part. Since the only THA card we will be using is likely to be the
Rutor's Hand, we can pretty much forget about the Veneficorum Artum
Sanguis once all our vampires have played Rutor's Hand. Unless we want
to be rushed by Tremere, always a pleasant experience.

So the module should look something like this:

6 Rutor's Hand
4 Rave (optional)
2 Vast Wealth (or better option)
2 Veneficorum Artum Sanguis
1 Heidelberg Castle Germany (optional)

Heidelberg will help in several ways. First of all, it will effectively
save you two actions. If Vampire B is taking the equipment from Vampire
A, then she will not be able to take the Rutor's Hand action
immediately. With Heidelberg, we can transfer the Veneficorum Artum
Sanguis over to vampire B without taking an action, and also if needed,
transfer enough blood for B to play Rutor's Hand at superior. Rave gives
us similar options with a more transient effect.

The additional benefit of Heidelberg is that we can later take advantage
of the fact that our vampires will have two actions to transfer needed
blood over to other vampires. For example, one vampire hunts twice and
then transfers two or more blood over to some other vampire who needs
it. And since we are using Vast Wealth, we will likely be including
other equipment which can also be transferred back and forth.

As you can probably guess, this module will help large vampires who
would not normally have access to cards like Freak Drive, Domain of
Evernight etc. There are many vampires who are not currently able to
take multiple actions without something like this module to give it to
them. It should be considered exactly what you will want to do with
extra actions however, as not every deck will benefit from this.

For example, a deck that *only* calls votes would have little need to
take two actions per turn because each vampire could only call one vote
per turn anyway. But a deck focusing on Eye of Hazimel for example,
which gives both +1 bleed and a built-in rush could have that vampire
take advantage of both bleeds and rushes in the same turn. (In fact,
that vampire may end up with CHI, POT and THA all from equipment
cards!).

Similarly, a deck that is very "toolboxy" will benefit from being able
to do many diffferent things during the same turn. One vampire could
hunt and then recruit an ally, while another hires a retainer and then
equips a weapon. If such a deck survives to the endgame, it will likely
be a powerhouse with plenty of powerful permanents.

Wall decks can also benefit from this module because they will generally
want to have untapped vampires at the end of their turn. So a vampire
could bleed for 1 and then untap to block potential threats from other
players, giving the wall deck a forward momentum that it might not
otherwise have.

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CONTEST

I've been having a hard time thinking of *exciting* contests lately, if
that isn't already evident to my reader(s). At the same time, I often
wonder if people even read my newsletters as quite often there is almost
no feedback (to be fair, sometimes there is lots). Therefore, for this
month's contest I have decided to feature a reading comprehension test.
This will give you something to do while waiting for the next FoS
newsletter (you don't read any *other* newsletters now, do you? Here are
the questions for this month.

1) Smudge is at 1 capacity and has superior Chimerstry, Potence and
Thaumaturgy. He has not received any discipline skill cards. How?
2) My predator has just helped me oust my prey. And they even think this
is a good thing for them. Why?
3) My dog has no nose. How does it smell?

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SIGN OFF

I hope you have enjoyed this most recent installment of the Followers of
Set newsletter. As always, questions and comments are appreciated.

Cheers,
WES